Trophos appoints Christine Placet as chief executive officer

Trophos SA, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics from discovery to clinical validation for indications with under-served needs in neurology and cardiology, announces today the appointment of Christine Placet as chief executive officer, effective immediately.

Christine was previously CFO of Trophos since 2004. Christine becomes CEO under a previously defined internal succession plan designed to provide continuity for Trophos. Trophos is financed to 2014.

Christine becomes CEO with a mandate to continue to bring the Trophos’ ongoing programs to a successful conclusion and to seek strategic partnerships for Trophos’ advance clinical development drug candidates:

Olesoxime, which is in an ongoing pivotal trial in Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) with results due in the second half of 2013 Olesoxime for Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease progression, a phase II proof-of-concept trial designed with global MS experts TRO40303, which is in an ongoing phase IIa proof-of-concept study in cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI), with results due before end 2012.

“The Trophos team has built a strong portfolio of advanced clinical drug candidates and I am delighted to be working with the Trophos management and its board to build further value in the next stage of its development,” said Christine Placet. “There is considerable market potential of nearly USD two billion for the conditions targeted by our pipeline. As importantly, we will look to continue to bring hope to patients with the serious and under-treated conditions that we specialise in.”

“The board of Trophos is delighted to appoint Christine Placet as CEO,” said Marc Villecroze, chairman of the Trophos board. “Christine has used her leadership and strategic skills in her eight years at Trophos that are necessary to deliver on Trophos’ ongoing programs and its strategic goals. We would like to record our sincere thanks to Damian Marron. He leaves Trophos in a strong position and with our very best wishes in his future career.”

Christine Placet has over 25 years’ experience in a variety of areas of finance and business management. Prior to joining Trophos as CFO in 2004, she was CFO in a number of growing companies and start-ups in various industries, and worked as an auditor for eight years for Ernst & Young. She has a graduate diploma in financial accounting (DESCF) and a business school diploma from Sup de Co Marseille (DESCAF).

About Trophos SA – http://www.trophos.com

Trophos is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics for indications with under-served needs in neurology and cardiology. The company has a novel and proprietary cholesterol oxime based chemistry platform generating a pipeline of drug candidates. The lead product, olesoxime (TRO19622), is in a pivotal clinical study for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (substantially funded by the AFM patient association). Olesoxime is also ready for a phase II proof of concept study in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) disease progression. A second product, TRO40303, is in phase II clinical development to treat cardiac reperfusion injury (as part of an EU funded project, MitoCare). Trophos’ mitochondrial pore modulator compounds enhance the function and survival of stressed cells via modulation of dysfunctional mitochondria through interactions at the permeability transition pore (mPTP). Recently published clinical studies support the therapeutic rationale for mitochondria targeted drugs, which Trophos is uniquely placed to exploit. Trophos, founded in 1999, is based in Marseille, France and currently has 27 employees.