The News

Ablynx strengthens management team with the appointment of Dr Josefin-Beate holz as Chief Medical Officer

06/08/2007

GHENT, Belgium, 6 August, 2007 - Ablynx, the biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of Nanobodies®, today announced that it has appointed Dr Josefin-Beate (Josi) Holz, as its first Chief Medical Officer.
 
Dr Holz has over 12 years experience across the US and Europe in the biotech and pharma industry, specialising in clinical research and development. She will head up the pre-clinical and clinical activities and identify and prioritise programmes that Ablynx will take forward into clinical development.
 
Prior to joining Ablynx, Dr Holz was Vice President of Drug Development at U3 Pharma AG, heading up preclinical development, manufacturing, regulatory and clinical development. Previously she has also held senior clinical development positions with GPC Biotech, Allos Therapeutics, Nexstar/Gilead Pharmaceuticals and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
 
Dr Holz received her PhD in Hematology Oncology from the University Marburg, Germany in 1995. She is a member of the German Society for Cancer (DKG), The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), German Society of Internal Medicine, ESMO - European Society for Medical Oncology and Parenteral Drug Association (PDA).
 
Dr Edwin Moses, CEO and Chairman said: "We are delighted that Josi has joined Ablynx. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience in the clinical research area with strong expertise in development of biologics, which will further strengthen our existing management team. We have made excellent progress in transforming the company from a platform into a pipeline company, as reflected by the recent positive interim results from the ongoing phase I study of our lead program ALX-0081. Josi's appointment marks another significant step as the company expands its development capabilities and advances additional Nanobody® programmes toward the clinic."
 
Commenting on her appointment, Dr Holz said: "I have been impressed with the speed at which the Nanobody® technology can advance leads into development and I am very pleased Ablynx's lead programme was the first single domain antibody to reach the clinic earlier this year. As the Nanobody® platform can be applied to a plethora of target families and across multiple therapeutic areas, I believe Ablynx has a tremendous opportunity to build a broad pipeline and I look forward to contribute to the development of Ablynx as a leading biopharmaceutical company."