Verona Pharma Appoints New CEO

Verona Pharma plc announced the appointment of Dr Sven Jan-Anders Karlsson (aged 57) as Chief Executive Officer with effect from 1 June 2012.  

Dr Karlsson has broad pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D and corporate experience.  He was formerly the CEO at S*BIO, a Singapore and US based biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel small molecule anti-cancer drugs.  Before S*BIO, Dr Karlsson was Executive Vice President of Pharma Global Research at Bayer Healthcare after holding senior leadership positions at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Sanofi) and Astra (now AstraZeneca).

The current CEO, Michael Walker, was one of the co-founders of Verona Pharma.  Under his leadership the Company acquired and rapidly progressed two novel drug candidates through five successful Phase II clinical trials. Michael will work closely with Jan-Anders to ensure a successful handover of the CEO position and will continue to serve the Company as a Senior Scientific Advisor to the Board.