EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals Appoints Maria Bech as New CEO to Support Move into Clinical Development

EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals is a privately held biopharmaceutical company currently developing a next-generation therapeutic platform for the treatment of inflammatory disorders through addressing underlying causal pathways of disease. Ms Bech, who succeeds Dr Fredrik Lehmann as CEO, is a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive with over 25 years’ experience in a range of senior executive and board-level positions.

Prof Clive Page OBE, Chairman of the Board of EpiEndo Pharma welcomed the appointment: “I am delighted to welcome Maria into this new role as CEO. I would also like to thank Fredrik for his invaluable leadership and dedicated service to the Company during its pre-clinical phase which has brought us to this inflection point in EpiEndo’s history. We look forward to working closely with Maria, whose broad management experience from within big pharma as well as high growth biotech companies, and deep expertise in clinical development will be huge assets for EpiEndo as our development moves into the clinic.”

New CEO Maria Bech commented “I am thrilled to be taking on this role at EpiEndo, joining a really experienced team and advisory board at this exciting time as we start to explore the opportunities for our unique non-antibiotic macrolide drug platform in clinical use. I’m honoured to be leading the advancement of the company’s innovative drug science into this next phase of clinical development. I believe that our approach has potential for real disease-modifying benefit, and we look forward to exploring how our highly differentiated approach of epithelial barrier integrity enhancement can be advanced for a range of indications.”

Ms Bech who transitions into the role, had previously been engaged to supervise the EpiEndo’s clinical development strategy and preparation of the Company’s first in man study. She formerly held the position of Chief Scientific Officer at Smartfish AS and before that was VP of Clinical Development and Regulatory Affairs and previously Director Clinical Operations and Principal Project Manager at Karo Bio AB. Prior to that she served in a variety of clinical study leadership and project management roles for over 13 years with AstraZeneca and Pharmacia & Upjohn. She also continues to serve on the Board of Directors of Iconovo AB, Paxman AB, EQL Pharma AB and Neuronano AB.

Ms Bech holds an MSc in Molecular Biology from Lund University and has worked in several therapeutic areas including metabolic disease, CNS, oncology, pediatrics, endocrinology, and nutrition.

About EpiEndo Pharmaceuticals (www.epiendo.com)

EpiEndo is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a unique approach to inflammatory disorders through focusing on enhancement of epithelial barrier integrity as a causal pathophysiological factor underlying the etiology of a number of major diseases. Epithelial cells are a key component of the barrier that makes up human skin and lung tissue, as well as the intestinal tract and genitalia. Comprise of the integrity of this barrier is implicated in the progression and non-resolution of inflammation.
EpiEndo is developing a proprietary portfolio of orally available macrolide drug candidates with promise as first-in-class disease-modifying therapeutics, to address the huge global burden of chronic respiratory diseases and other significant unmet medical needs.
EpiEndo’s lead drug candidate, EP395, aims to be the first on-market oral, disease modifying, non-antibiotic, barrier strengthening and anti-inflammatory macrolide for COPD.
For more information, please visit www.epiendo.com

Contact
Maria Bech

CEO
E-mail: maria.bech@epiendo.com

Tel: [+44] 208 133 8664

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