Polyphor appoints Gökhan Batur as Chief Executive Officer

Polyphor AG / Key word(s): Personnel

23-Jan-2020 / 18:00 CET/CEST
Release of an ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 KR
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Allschwil, Switzerland, January 23, 2020

Polyphor appoints Gökhan Batur as Chief Executive Officer

Polyphor AG (SIX: POLN) announced today that Gökhan Batur, currently Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Polyphor has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) effective immediately. He will succeed Giacomo DiNepi, who will retire after a long-standing and successful career in the Pharmaceutical industry.

Kuno Sommer, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Polyphor, said: "I am very pleased that with Gökhan we are appointing a new CEO of Polyphor with a broad and international experience in the healthcare industry and an in-depth understanding of Polyphor and our business. Gökhan has joined Polyphor in 2019 with a strong track record in leadership, strategy and execution. Having the opportunity to work with him as a member of the executive committee, we are convinced that he is the right person to lead Polyphor. I would also like to thank Giacomo for his leadership, dedication and great work over the last years, most notably the successful IPO of Polyphor in 2018. I wish him all the best for the future."

Gökhan Batur has more than 15 years of healthcare industry experience. Before joining Polyphor, he assumed various management roles at MSD, most recently serving as Executive Director, Global Brand Leader, Antibiotics, responsible for leading the entire Merck antibiotics portfolio managing multiple in-line, launch and pipeline products and sales of ~2 billion dollars. He received his BS in Management Information Systems from Bosphorus University, Istanbul.

The Board and Management Team of Polyphor will provide a business update, followed by a Q&A session on February 20, 2020 at 14.00 CET.

For further information please contact:

For Investors:
Hernan Levett
Chief Financial Officer
Polyphor Ltd.
Tel: +41 61 567 16 24
Email: IR@polyphor.com

For Media:
Stephan Feldhaus
Feldhaus & Partner GmbH
Tel: +41 79 865 92 56
Email: feldhaus@feldhaus-partner.ch

About Polyphor
Polyphor is a clinical stage, Swiss biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and de-velopment of immuno-oncology compounds and a new class of antibiotics. Polyphor is advancing balixafortide (POL6326) in a Phase III trial in combination with eribulin in patients with advanced breast cancer, and exploring its potential in other cancer indications. In addition, it has discovered and is developing the Outer Membrane Protein Targeting Antibiotics (OMPTA). OMPTA are po-tentially the first new class of antibiotics in clinical development in the last 50 years against Gram-negative bacteria. The company's lead OMPTA program is an inhaled formulation of murepavadin for the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in patients with cystic fibrosis. Polyphor is based in Allschwil near Basel and is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: POLN). For more information, please visit www.polyphor.com.

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the Polyphor management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular Polyphor's results, financial situation, and performance. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only of the date of this communication. Polyphor disclaims any intention or obligation to update and revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.