E-Therapeutics PLC (LON:ETX) named Professor Trevor Jones its new non-executive chairman and said Ali Mortazavi will continue in his role as chief executive while dropping the title of executive chairman he has held since October.
Jones has been an independent non-executive director of the company since 2015 and has more than 40 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as well as in academia.
He was a director of Allergan Inc from 2005 to 2015 and R&D director of The Wellcome Foundation from 1987 to 1994, where he was responsible for the development of AZT, Zovirax, Lamictal and Malarone, and is currently a visiting professor at King's College, London.
E-Therapeutics said it continues to search for an additional non-executive director to further strengthen the board.
Jones said: “E-Therapeutics has a world-class team of scientists who are discovering entirely novel therapeutics using their unique approach to network pharmacology. The appointment last year of Ali Mortazavi has led to a step-change in the company's performance and we are in a strong position to continue our successful internal programmes and partnerships with major pharmaceutical and biotech companies.”
Mortazavi added that he was “very pleased” with the move and that he is “very much looking forward to working more closely with him”, adding that Jones’s “breadth of experience in all aspects of the biopharma industry will be invaluable to us as we strive to achieve our long-term ambitions in drug development”.
The company also announced the appointment of SP Angel as its nominated adviser and broker, with immediate effect.