Relief Therapeutics Appoints Industry Veteran, Jack Weinstein, as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

EQS Group-News: Relief Therapeutics Holdings AG / Key word(s): Personnel
08.10.2020 / 07:00

Relief Therapeutics Appoints Industry Veteran, Jack Weinstein, as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer

Geneva, Switzerland, October 08, 2020 - RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding AG (SIX: RLF, OTCQB: RLFTF) ("Relief" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company with its lead compound RLF-100^TM (aviptadil) in advanced clinical development to treat severe COVID-19 patients, today announced the appointment of Jack Weinstein as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Treasurer, effective immediately. Jack will be responsible for all duties pertaining to these roles and particularly for investor engagement, including with institutional investors in the U.S. and abroad. He will be based in New York.

Jack brings over 40 years of wide-ranging executive management expertise, including as a CFO, investment banker and consultant in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has extensive experience in finance and healthcare investment banking, corporate and business development, as well as FDA regulatory and intellectual property strategies. He has successfully completed a variety of corporate finance transactions, including public and private financings, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Before joining Relief, he served as Managing Director and Head of Healthcare Investment Banking at Avalon Group, Ltd., an independent New York-based boutique investment bank. Prior to that, he was Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Vice President of Business Development at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing prescription pharmaceutical products, and took the company public on Nasdaq. He also was President and Founder of The Sterlington Group, Inc., a consulting firm providing strategic, business development, regulatory and "CFO" consulting services, including M&A advisory and raising equity and debt for middle-market companies. He has also gained experience at several other investment banking and consulting firms. Jack earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School and graduated with a BM degree from the University of Miami, magna cum laude. Jack also holds FINRA Series 79 (Investment Banking Representative Exam) and 63 (Uniform Securities State Law Examination) Licenses.

Raghuram (Ram) Selvaraju, Chairman of the Board, said: "We are delighted to have Jack join the Relief team. His broad expertise will be invaluable to the Company at a time when RLF-100^TM outpaces traditional clinical development timelines to meet the necessary requirements to demonstrate safety and efficacy data in the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients. His regulatory and public company experience will be critical in our intensive interactions with regulatory authorities and our increasing dialogue with the investment community in order to raise awareness and understanding of Relief. I very much look forward to working with him."

"I am impressed by how swiftly Relief reacted to one of the largest healthcare disasters of our time by rapidly advancing their proprietary asset into clinical development and towards approval. I am excited to join the Company at a stage when it is evolving and growing to meet a major unmet medical need with a potentially lifesaving treatment for severely sick COVID-19 patients," said Jack Weinstein, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. "I look forward to leveraging my established industry know-how and network to help steward Relief into this new, exciting stage in its development and to be part of the Relief team to help realize its long- term strategic plans beyond the planned commercialization of RLF-100^TM worldwide."

Relief also reported that Jeremy Meinen will maintain his current role and responsibilities within the Company as principal finance and accounting officer and will take up the new title of Vice President of Finance and Administration with immediate effect.

In addition, Yves Sagot, Ph.D., co-founder and former Chief Scientific Officer, has as of today transitioned into a temporary consulting role. This change will allow him to continue to advise Relief on its R&D activities as the Company rapidly advances RLF-100(TM) in development, while allowing him to take on new opportunities.

Raghuram (Ram) Selvaraju commented: "We are extremely grateful for Yves' contributions to Relief throughout its history, in particular his understanding of the potential RLF-100^TM may hold in the treatment of severe COVID-19 patients. We are pleased he will continue to serve the Company in a short-term consulting capacity and wish him the best in his future endeavors."

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About Relief
Relief focuses primarily on clinical-stage programs based on molecules of natural origin (peptides and proteins) with a history of clinical testing and use in human patients or a strong scientific rationale. Currently, Relief is concentrating its efforts on developing new treatments for respiratory disease indications. Its lead drug candidate RLF-100^TM (aviptadil), synthetic vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), is being investigated in two placebo-controlled U.S. Phase 2b/3 clinical trials in respiratory deficiency due to COVID-19. RLF-100^TM is believed to be the first COVID-19 therapeutic to demonstrate the ability to block replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in human lung cells and monocytes, while also preventing synthesis of cytokines in the lung. Since July 2020, severe COVID-19 patients have been treated with RLF-100^TM under U.S. FDA Emergency Use Investigational New Drug (IND) authorization and Expanded Access Protocol authorization for the treatment of respiratory failure in COVID-19.

Relief holds orphan drug designations from the U.S. FDA and the European Union for the use of RLF-100^TM to treat ARDS, pulmonary hypertension, and sarcoidosis. Relief also holds a patent issued in the United States and various other countries covering potential formulations of RLF-100^TM.

RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding AG is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbol RLFTF.

End of Media Release