Pharmexa’s shareholders have elected Karen Lykke Sørensen and Ole Steen Andersen to the company’s Board of Directors and Peter Nordkild has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer

Summary: Karen Lykke Sørensen, Vice President, Northern Europe, Sanofi-Aventis, and Ole Steen Andersen, CFO of Danfoss, have joined the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors has elected Ole Steen Andersen as its new Chairman. Furthermore, Pharmexa has appointed Peter Nordkild as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO)

In recent years, Pharmexa has refocused the company from drug discovery towards drug development and Pharmexa is now taking the final important step, under which the company will increasingly focus on commercial operations. Karen Lykke Sørensen, Vice President, Northern Europe, Sanofi-Aventis, and Ole Steen Andersen, CFO of Danfoss, complement the commercial strength already represented on the Board of Directors of Pharmexa. The Board of Directors has elected Ole Steen Andersen as its new Chairman.

Ole Steen Andersen said: “Pharmexa is a good example of the importance of business building and strategy work, also in biotech companies. The company’s Board of Directors and Management have very competently repositioned the company over a short number of years. As new Chairman, I will work to continue this process.”

Jakob Schmidt, CEO of Pharmexa said: “Karl-Olof Borg has been an excellent chairman during a difficult but also very successful period at Pharmexa. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him, and I am pleased that he will stay on the Board even though he now, at his own request, has stepped down as chairman. I look forward to working with Ole Steen Andersen, and I look forward to benefiting from his great industrial and commercial experience.”

Pharmexa has appointed Peter Nordkild as Chief Commercial Officer (CCO). Peter Nordkild (51) has extensive capabilities within business development and sales and marketing of pharmaceuticals. Before joining Pharmexa, Peter Nordkild spent six years as Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations with Ferring Pharmaceuticals. His primary task was to develop Ferring’s activities outside North America and Europe, with the primary focus on the Far East, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Peter Nordkild was responsible for some 20 subsidiaries with more than 600 employees and a sales budget of around DKK 1.5 billion. Before joining Ferring, Peter Nordkild held various management positions with Novo Nordisk over a 12-year period, among them several years as Director of Diabetes Marketing, with responsibility for all Novo Nordisk diabetes marketing activities. Peter Nordkild is an orthopaedic surgeon by background and has published a large number of scientific articles in this field.

At Pharmexa, Peter Nordkild will hold overall responsibility for business development, collaborative agreements, finance, administration and IT. Peter Nordkild will report to CEO Jakob Schmidt and together with Jakob Schmidt he will make up Pharmexa’s new Executive Management.