Ipsen announces change in R&D leadership: Howard Mayer to retire, succeeded by Christelle Huguet
PARIS, FRANCE, 1 September 2023 – Ipsen (Euronext: IPN; ADR: IPSEY), a global specialty-driven biopharmaceutical company, announced today the appointment of Christelle Huguet as Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development. She will succeed Howard Mayer, EVP and Head of R&D, who will leave Ipsen on September 22, following his decision to retire.
Christelle Huguet will serve on the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), reporting directly to Ipsen’s Chief Executive Officer, David Loew and immediately succeeding Howard upon his departure. Since joining Ipsen in May 2020 as Senior Vice President and Head of Research, External Innovation and Early Development (REED), she has built a lean and dynamic global REED organization supporting Ipsen’s three therapeutic areas: Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience, from target to clinic.
“I am very pleased that Christelle will join Ipsen’s Executive Leadership team as we continue to successfully deliver on our strategic roadmap. Christelle’s deep experience, spanning discovery and development, will be essential to advance our pipeline and drive positive developments from external innovation. This experience, coupled with her passion and leadership style of developing people, will ensure a smooth transition as she assumes her new role,” said David Loew, CEO, Ipsen.
“I also want to thank Howard for his significant contributions to Ipsen. Over the last four years he built a strong R&D leadership team, which led a deep review of the pipeline, prioritized disease areas, and identified strategic programs and opportunities. Howard was also instrumental in Ipsen’s success from a Business Development and M&A perspective over the last several years, and he played a pivotal role in the acquisitions and integrations of Epizyme and Albireo into Ipsen. He has remained personally committed to bringing much-needed innovation to patients throughout his distinguished career.”
Christelle brings depth and expertise, with over 25 years of biotech and industry experience spanning drug discovery and development from the early phases of drug discovery to the identification and early clinical development of small molecules and biologics up to Phase IIb. Prior to joining Ipsen in, Christelle was Chief Scientific Officer for X-Chem Inc & ZebiAI Therapeutics, where she built an internal portfolio of oncology programs and implemented the use of advanced machine learning to DNA-encoded library data analysis. Prior to X-Chem, she was the head of internal research at Alexion, where she focused on rare diseases. Earlier in her career, she spent 18 years at Pfizer in a number of senior leadership roles in research and pre-clinical development, including CSO for GU disease, Global Head of PK, PD and Metabolism, and CSO for inflammation and immunology.
“I know firsthand that our R&D organization is committed to Ipsen’s ambitious innovation agenda,” said Christelle Huguet. “I’m honored to lead this talented team to continue to bring much-needed new medicines in Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience, where we can make a meaningful impact for patients and society.”
Christelle studied in France, Germany and Switzerland, receiving a French University Diploma in Technology (DUT) in applied biology and biochemistry, and a European Engineering degree in biotechnology sciences. She received a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology from the Institute Pasteur in France. Christelle will continue to be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of Ipsen’s four global hubs, and will assume her new role from 22 September 2023.
ENDS
About Ipsen
Ipsen is a global, mid-sized biopharmaceutical company focused on transformative medicines in Oncology, Rare Disease and Neuroscience. With total sales of €3.0bn in FY 2022, Ipsen sells medicines in over 100 countries. Alongside its external-innovation strategy, the Company’s research and development efforts are focused on its innovative and differentiated technological platforms located in the heart of leading biotechnological and life-science hubs: Paris-Saclay, France; Oxford, U.K.; Cambridge, U.S.; Shanghai, China. Ipsen has around 5,300 colleagues worldwide and is listed in Paris (Euronext: IPN) and in the U.S. through a Sponsored Level I American Depositary Receipt program (ADR: IPSEY). For more information, visit ipsen.com
For further information:
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| Craig Marks Vice President, Investor Relations +44 (0)7584 349 193 | Nicolas Bogler Senior Manager, Investor Relations +33 6 52 19 98 92 |
| Media | |
| Amy Wolf VP, Head of Corporate Brand Strategy & Communications +41 79 576 07 23 | Ioana Piscociu Senior Manager Global Media Relations +33 6 69 09 12 96 |
Ipsen’s forward-looking statements
The forward-looking statements, objectives and targets contained herein are based on Ipsen’s management strategy, current views and assumptions. Such statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated herein. All of the above risks could affect Ipsen’s future ability to achieve its financial targets, which were set assuming reasonable macroeconomic conditions based on the information available today. Use of the words ‘believes’, ‘anticipates’ and ‘expects’ and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, including Ipsen’s expectations regarding future events, including regulatory filings and determinations. Moreover, the targets described in this document were prepared without taking into account external-growth assumptions and potential future acquisitions, which may alter these parameters. These objectives are based on data and assumptions regarded as reasonable by Ipsen. These targets depend on conditions or facts likely to happen in the future, and not exclusively on historical data. Actual results may depart significantly from these targets given the occurrence of certain risks and uncertainties, notably the fact that a promising medicine in early development phase or clinical trial may end up never being launched on the market or reaching its commercial targets, notably for regulatory or competition reasons. Ipsen must face or might face competition from generic medicine that might translate into a loss of market share. Furthermore, the research and development process involves several stages each of which involves the substantial risk that Ipsen may fail to achieve its objectives and be forced to abandon its efforts with regards to a medicine in which it has invested significant sums. Therefore, Ipsen cannot be certain that favorable results obtained during preclinical trials will be confirmed subsequently during clinical trials, or that the results of clinical trials will be sufficient to demonstrate the safe and effective nature of the medicine concerned. There can be no guarantees a medicine will receive the necessary regulatory approvals or that the medicine will prove to be commercially successful. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results may differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Other risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to, general industry conditions and competition; general economic factors, including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and healthcare legislation; global trends toward healthcare cost containment; technological advances, new medicine and patents attained by competitors; challenges inherent in new-medicine development, including obtaining regulatory approval; Ipsen's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; manufacturing difficulties or delays; financial instability of international economies and sovereign risk; dependence on the effectiveness of Ipsen’s patents and other protections for innovative medicines; and the exposure to litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions. Ipsen also depends on third parties to develop and market some of its medicines which could potentially generate substantial royalties; these partners could behave in such ways which could cause damage to Ipsen’s activities and financial results. Ipsen cannot be certain that its partners will fulfil their obligations. It might be unable to obtain any benefit from those agreements. A default by any of Ipsen’s partners could generate lower revenues than expected. Such situations could have a negative impact on Ipsen’s business, financial position or performance. Ipsen expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements, targets or estimates contained in this press release to reflect any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which any such statements are based, unless so required by applicable law. Ipsen’s business is subject to the risk factors outlined in its registration documents filed with the French Autorité des Marchés Financiers. The risks and uncertainties set out are not exhaustive and the reader is advised to refer to Ipsen’s latest Universal Registration Document, available on ipsen.com.
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