Pharmaxis Ltd (ASX:PXS, OTC:PMXSF) has strengthened its board through the appointment of experienced life sciences investment professional Hashan De Silva as a non-executive director.
De Silva, whose appointment comes into effect today, worked as associate healthcare analyst at Macquarie Group and lead healthcare analyst at CLSA Australia before joining specialist healthcare fund Karst Peak Capital Ltd in February 2021 as head of healthcare research.
Prior to that, he worked at Eli Lilly in various roles focused on the commercialisation of new and existing pharmaceutical products.
Insight and experience
“We welcome Hashan to the Pharmaxis board," chair Malcolm McComas said. "He has been an enthusiastic supporter of the company throughout his healthcare banking career, including more recently as head of healthcare research at Karst Peak Capital, where he conducted extensive diligence on our science which underpinned three separate investments in Pharmaxis.
“Hashan’s knowledge of the Australian and international healthcare capital markets brings relevant insight and experience to the Pharmaxis board.”
Creating value
Sydney-based De Silva added: “Pharmaxis has built a very impressive drug discovery and development capability unique from other ASX-listed pharmaceutical companies. The clinical stage assets have generated exciting early data in diseases with high unmet need.
“I look forward to contributing to the commercialisation of these assets to create value for shareholders and deliver much-needed new treatment options to patients.”
Armed with a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine and Master’s Degree in Finance from the University of New South Wales, De Silva is also a non-executive director of Melbourne and Philadelphia-based CurveBeam AI.
Clinical development pipeline
Pharmaxis is focused on discovering new drugs to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases, including myelofibrosis, stromal (fibrotic) cancers such as pancreatic and liver cancer, non-alcoholic fatty liver (NASH), pulmonary fibrosis, chronic kidney disease (CKD), liver fibrosis and fibrotic scarring from burns and other trauma.
Pharmaxis’ primary focus is the development of PXS-5505 for myelofibrosis but is also being studied for the treatment of other cancers, including liver and pancreatic cancers, where it aims to breakdown the fibrotic tissue in the tumour to enhance the effect of existing chemotherapy.