Vaccine Development Boosted With 10 Mio. Euros at AFFiRiS AG

Noel Barrett appointed as additional member of the supervisory board

27-Jun-2016 - Austria

AFFiRiS AG has successfully completed its capital increase and raises an additional € 10m from existing investors and FCPB Affi GmbH. The Supervisory Board has appointed Günther Staffler as Chief Technology Officer. Noel Barrett has joined the Supervisory Board as of 15 June 2016.

In an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on 29 April 2016, the shareholders of the company have agreed to a capital increase of € 10m. The new shares have equally been subscribed by the two major investors of the company, Santo Holding – the family office of the Strüngmann family – , the MIG Funds advised by MIG Verwaltungs AG and new investor FCPG Affi GmbH. In the ordinary shareholders' meeting on 15 June 2016, the shareholders also elected Noel Barrett as additional member of the Supervisory Board. He replaces Dr. Frank Mattner whose tenure as supervisory board member has ended on 31 December 2015.

Noel Barrett has more than 30 years’ experience in the vaccines and biotechnology industry with management responsibilities covering the complete development process required to bring vaccine products to the market. In his last position at Baxter Healthcare, Noel Barrett was Vice President, Global R&D Vaccines and has successfully overseen the development of numerous vaccine candidates through preclinical and clinical development.

The company has decided to adapt its management structure to focus on development, both preclinical and clinical of its projects. All preclinical development will be led by Günther Staffler (48) whom the Supervisory Board has appointed as Chief Technology Officer and member of the executive board of AFFiRiS. Günther Staffler has previously been responsible as Head of Immunology for the preclinical development of its vaccine candidates AT04A and AT06A in Hypercholesterolemia and Atherosclerosis prevention which are currently being tested in Phase 1 clinical development. The company also announces the departure of Achim Schneeberger, previously Chief Medical Officer and Arne von Bonin, Chief Scientific Officer.

AFFIRIS commenced Phase 1 clinical development of its Hypercholesterolemia and Atherosclerosis prevention vaccine candidates AT04A and AT06A and expects data from this study in Q1 2017. AT04A and AT06A are vaccine candidates from the next generation AFFITOME® technology and target PCSK9, an enzyme which plays a role in the lipid metabolism of the liver. If PCSK9 is blocked, more LDL receptors will be present on the surface of the liver and will remove more LDL cholesterol from the blood. Therefore, blocking PCSK9 can lower blood cholesterol levels.

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/158657/vaccine-development-boosted-with-10-mio-euros-at-affiris-ag.html