Gain Therapeutics, Inc. (“Gain”) today announced the addition of Dov Goldstein, M.D., Gwen Melincoff, Claude Nicaise, M.D. and Hans Peter Hasler as independent members to its Board of Directors.
BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gain Therapeutics, Inc. (“Gain”) today announced the addition of Dov Goldstein, M.D., Gwen Melincoff, Claude Nicaise, M.D. and Hans Peter Hasler as independent members to its Board of Directors. The new board additions will provide strategic guidance as the company focuses on identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted to unlock new treatment options for difficult-to-treat disorders characterized by protein misfolding. In conjunction with the new additions, Dr. Lorenzo Leoni and Dr. Marianne Bjordal will be stepping down from Board.
“We are pleased to welcome such a distinguished group of board members at this pivotal time for Gain,” said Eric Richman, Chief Executive Officer at Gain. “Their decades of experience across the biopharmaceutical industry will be invaluable as we continue to advance our pipeline and determine how our proprietary Site-Directed Enzyme Enhancement Therapy (See-Tx™) computational platform technology can best be leveraged to help patients in need of new treatment options. I look forward to working with Dr. Goldstein, Ms. Melincoff, Dr. Nicaise and Mr. Hasler.”
Dr. Khalid Islam, Chairman of the Board, added, “I would like to thank Dr. Lorenzo Leoni and Dr. Marianne Bjordal for their important contributions and guidance during the last several years. With the addition of Dr. Goldstein, Ms. Melincoff, Dr. Nicaise and Mr. Hasler to our board, Gain is ideally positioned to build upon the considerable growth we’ve achieved over the past year. I am confident that these new directors will provide valuable insights and perspectives given their track records in research, clinical, regulatory and commercial. I look forward to their engagement and assistance in guiding our strategies and objectives to advance our pipeline of innovative and breakthrough therapies as Gain therapeutics continues its ongoing evolution.”
Biographical Information
Dr. Goldstein brings more than two decades of experience in the biotech industry to the Gain board of directors. He is currently the Chief Financial and Business Officer of Indapta Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary, off-the-shelf, allogeneic FcRγ-deficient natural killer (G-NK) cell therapy to treat multiple cancers and serves on the board of NeuBase Therapeutics. Prior to Indapta, Dr. Goldstein served as Chief Executive Officer at RIGImmune. From 2006-2019, he worked at Aisling Capital, a private investment firm. Dr. Goldstein also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Loxo Oncology, Inc. and Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which was acquired by Pfizer, Inc. in September 2005. Dr. Goldstein has served as a director at ADMA Biologics, Inc., Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., and Cempra, Inc. (which was acquired by Melinta Therapeutics, Inc.). Dr. Goldstein received a B.S. from Stanford University, an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, and an M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He completed an internship in the Department of Medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.
Ms. Melincoff is a seasoned business development and venture professional with over 25 years of deal-making and management experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Ms. Melincoff is currently managing director at Gemini Advisors LLC, a biopharmaceutical consultancy, and an advisor to Verge Genomics, a startup drug discovery company and Agent Capital. Previously, Ms. Melincoff served as Vice President of Business Development at BTG International Inc., a UK-specialist healthcare company. Prior to BTG, Ms. Melincoff was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Shire Plc (acquired by Takeda). Additionally, she led the Shire Strategic Investment Group, the venture capital arm of Shire Plc. Ms. Melincoff was Vice President of Business Development at Adolor Corporation and held executive positions at Eastman Kodak for over ten years in a number of their health care companies. She serves on the board of directors of several biopharmaceutical companies, including Protalix Biotherapeutics, Inc., Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. and Soleno Therapeutics, Inc. and has previously served on the boards of Photocure ASA, Kamada Ltd. and Tobira Therapeutics Inc. Ms. Melincoff holds a B.S. in Biology from The George Washington University and an M.S. in Management and Health Care Administration from Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Nicaise is the founder of Clinical Regulatory Services, a company providing advice on clinical and regulatory matters to biotechnology companies. Dr. Nicaise serves on the board for Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc., chairs their Compensation committee, and is a member of their Research and Development committee. Since 2015, Dr. Nicaise has served as an Executive Vice President Regulatory at Ovid Therapeutics Inc., a company that develops medicines for orphan diseases of the brain. Dr. Nicaise was a Senior Vice President of Strategic Development and Global Regulatory Affairs at Alexion Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2014. From 1983 to 2008, Dr. Nicaise served in various positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb, including senior positions such as Vice President of Global Development, Vice-President of Worldwide Regulatory Science and Strategy, and leadership positions in Oncology, Infectious Disease, and Neuroscience development. Dr. Nicaise received his medical degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium.
Mr. Hasler was the Chief Executive Officer of Vicarius Pharma AG, a privately held European Bio-Pharma company until 2020. He also is a Senior Advisor of SBTech Global Advisory. His prior experiences include Elan Corporation, Dublin, where he was Chief Operating Officer, and Biogen Inc., Boston, where his positions included Chief Operating Officer, and EVP, Head of Global Neurology and International. Previously, Mr. Hasler was at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Radnor/PA, as Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director of Wyeth Group Germany, Münster. Mr. Hasler is Chairman of the Board of HBM Healthcare Investments AG in Switzerland (SIX), Chairman of the Board of Shield Therapeutics, London (AIM), and a Director of Minerva Neurosciences in Boston (Nasdaq). He holds a Federal Swiss Commercial Diploma and a Marketing Manager Certificate from the Swiss Institute of Business Economy SIB, Zurich.
About Gain Therapeutics, Inc.
Gain Therapeutics is redefining drug discovery with its See-Tx™ target identification platform. By identifying and optimizing allosteric binding sites that have never before been targeted, Gain is unlocking new treatment options for difficult-to-treat disorders characterized by protein misfolding. Gain was originally established in 2017 with the support of its founders and institutional investors such as TiVenture, 3G Future Health Fund (previously known as Helsinn Investment Fund) and VitaTech. It has been awarded funding support from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and The Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA, as well as from the Eurostars-2 joint program with co-funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and Innosuisse. In July 2020, Gain Therapeutics, Inc. completed a share exchange with Gain Therapeutics, SA, a Swiss corporation, whereby GT Gain Therapeutics SA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Gain Therapeutics, Inc. For more information, visit https://www.gaintherapeutics.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
Any statements in this release that are not historical facts may be considered to be “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially and adversely from the statements contained herein. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Gain Therapeutics, Inc. (Gain) expected use of the proceeds from the Series B financing round; the market opportunity for Gain’s product candidates; and the business strategies and development plans of Gain. Some of the potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those predicted include Gain’s ability to: make commercially available its products and technologies in a timely manner or at all; enter into other strategic alliances, including arrangements for the development and distribution of its products; obtain intellectual property protection for its assets; accurately estimate its expenses and cash burn and raise additional funds when necessary. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except as required by law, Gain does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Gain Therapeutics Investor Contact:
Daniel Ferry
LifeSci Advisors
+1 617-430-7576
daniel@lifesciadvisors.com
Gain Therapeutics Media Contact:
Cait Williamson, Ph.D.
LifeSci Communications
+1 646-751-4366
cait@lifescicomms.com
