Papyrus Therapeutics Inc. Announces Additions to Its Board of Directors

WEST CHESTER, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Papyrus Therapeutics Inc. is delighted to announce that two new members have joined our Board of Directors, Marc Beer as chairman and Professor James Lorens PhD as an independent director.

Marc brings more then 30 years of therapeutic development and commercialization experience in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, device and diagnostics. Marc most recently became Executive Chairman of BioTE Medical, a global leader in Precision and Preventive Medicine focused on hormone development and commercialization of optimized hormones for women and men. Additionally, Marc recently became the non-Executive Chairman of Origami Surgical, a patented portfolio of products engineered to enhance robotic assisted surgery and to improve safety, autonomy and surgical efficiency.

Marc founded Renovia Inc., a leading digital therapeutic company focused on women’s healthcare. Marc is the former Chief Executive Officer of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AEGR), which he took public in October, 2010. The company successfully launched two rare disease therapeutics. Previously, Marc founded and took public Viacell Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAC)., a leader in cell therapy development and commercialization. Marc sold Viacell to Perkin Elmer (NYSE:PKI) in 2007. Marc was previously the founding Chairman of Erytech Pharma (NASDAQ:ERYP), also founding Chairman of Good Start Genetics (GSG) which was recently acquired by InVitae (NASDAQ:NVTA), and founding Chairman of Minerva (NASDAQ:NERV), which went public in 2013. Prior, Marc held several leadership roles at Genzyme, responsible for the commercial launch of several therapeutic proteins addressing rare disease populations.

Marc is a member of the Miami University Business Advisory Council and previously a member of the Notre Dame Research and Commercialization Advisory Committee and the Notre Dame Graduate Studies Research and Advisory Council. Marc holds a BS from Miami University (Ohio).

Professor James [Jim] Lorens has joined as an independent director. Jim is a recognized academic entrepreneur with over 35 years academic research and biotech industry experience from the US and Europe that will bring tremendous insight to the Papyrus Board. Jim was part of the Stanford University research group who spun-out Rigel Pharmaceuticals in South San Francisco in 1997, where he led a multidisciplinary technology innovation team during the start-up phase, and Oncology R&D during later expansion of the company through to NASDAQ listing. He founded BergenBio AS in 2007, a spinout company of the University of Bergen, to facilitate clinical translation of his academic group’s pioneering research on the AXL receptor tyrosine kinase and served as their Chief Scientific Officer 2008-2021. BerGenBio took the first AXL targeting agent into the clinic in 2013 and was listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange in 2017 (BGBIO). BerGenBio’s AXL inhibitor (bemcentinib) is currently in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of cancer and Covid-19.

Jim is Professor in the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Bergen Faculty of Medicine, Norway and principal investigator at the Center for Cancer Biomarkers, Norwegian Center of Excellence. He is also a member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

Prof. Lorens has served on several Editorial Boards, government R&D policy commissions and the Norwegian Research Council Boards on Innovation and Health Research.

CEO Dr Paul Blake stated ‘I am excited to work with these inspiring colleagues. Marc brings tremendous business acumen coupled with his ability to understand the benefits of this innovative science. Jim has a deep understanding of the potential of our work and has had the invaluable and recent experience of creating a company in a related field successfully’.

About Papyrus Therapeutics Inc.: Papyrus Therapeutics, Inc. (West Chester, PA, USA) is an emerging biopharma company developing novel tumor suppressor-based therapies. Papyrus´s lead therapeutic is a modified, recombinant version of Opioid Binding Protein/Cell Adhesion Molecule-like (OPCML). OPCML is a broadly acting tumor suppressor that is epigenetically silenced in many cancers, leading to tumor invasion and metastasis through deregulation of apoptosis, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and cellular migration. Classic receptor tyrosine kinase [RTK] inhibition using small molecules has proven highly effective in many cancers, but treatment resistance remains a significant challenge. Delivery of OPCML can overcome this challenge by reconstituting normal RTK signaling in the tumor.

www.papyrustherapeutics.com

Dr Paul Blake
908 330 6997
pblake@pytxi.com