Exicure, Inc. Announces Leadership Transition and Changes to the Board of Directors
February 04 2022 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
- Brian C. Bock to resign as President and CEO and become Special
Advisor to the CEO for a transition period
- Dr. Matthias Schroff appointed President and CEO; will replace
Mr. Bock on Board of Directors
- Timothy P. Walbert, Bosun Hau, and Andrew Sassine to resign
from the Board of Directors for other commitments
- Dr. Elizabeth (Betsy) Garofalo appointed Chair of the Board of
Directors to succeed Timothy P. Walbert
Exicure, Inc.® (NASDAQ: XCUR), a pioneer in gene regulatory
drugs utilizing spherical nucleic acid (SNA™) technology, today
announced that Brian C. Bock has submitted his resignation as
President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of
Directors of Exicure to pursue a new opportunity. Effective today,
Mr. Bock will transition into an advisory role with the Company and
will serve as Special Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer to
assist during a transition period.
The Board has appointed Matthias Schroff, Ph.D., Exicure’s
current Chief Scientific Officer, to succeed Mr. Bock effective
February 4, 2022. Additionally, Dr. Schroff was appointed as a
member of the Company’s Board of Directors to fill the vacancy
resulting from Mr. Bock’s resignation from the Board.
The Company also announced today that Andrew (Andy) Sassine, a
Board member and a member of the Audit Committee, has tendered his
resignation to step down from the Board as of February 3, 2022.
Timothy P. Walbert, who currently serves as Exicure’s Chair of the
Board, and Bosun Hau, a Board member and Compensation Committee
Chair, have each tendered their resignations to step down from the
Board, effective February 4, 2022.
The Board has appointed Betsy Garofalo, M.D. to succeed Mr.
Walbert as Chair of the Board and to serve on the Compensation
Committee of the Board of Directors to fill the vacancy on the
Compensation Committee resulting from Mr. Hau’s resignation from
the Board. The Board also appointed Jeffrey L. Cleland, Ph.D. to
serve as the Chair of the Compensation Committee following Mr.
Hau’s resignation, and appointed Bali Muralidhar, M.D., Ph.D. to
serve as a member of the Audit Committee following Mr. Sassine’s
resignation.
“On behalf of the Board and the Exicure organization, I would
like to thank Brian, Tim, Bosun and Andy for all of their
contributions to the Company and wish all of them the best in the
future,” said Dr. Garofalo. “Our leadership team has made good
progress since the unfortunate events of the fourth quarter of 2021
in stabilizing the business, and I look forward to collaborating
with Dr. Schroff to advance our promising proprietary and partnered
therapeutic programs and continuing to focus on beneficial business
development opportunities with the goal of increasing value for our
shareholders.”
“We believe these changes will act to right size the number of
board members to the state of our current operations, optimize our
leadership to execute on our science driven programs and further
reduce overall costs,” said Dr. Schroff. “With our versatile SNA
platform and promising SCN9A non-opioid pain program, we have a
solid foundation to build on. In addition, we are strengthened by
our valuable partnerships and have received reassurances in 2022 of
continuing commitments by both Ipsen Biopharm Limited and AbbVie to
moving forward our joint development plans and look forward to
progressing these programs. We will also continue to proactively
seek new partnerships in the field of nucleic acid therapies and
expect to release important development data as we advance our
SCN9A program through 2022. With our high-caliber team of
individuals, I am highly confident in our capabilities to overcome
the challenges in the field of nucleic acid therapies and am very
excited about the future prospects of Exicure.”
About Exicure, Inc.
Exicure, Inc. is a development-stage biotechnology company
developing therapeutics for neurology and other genetic disorders
based on its proprietary Spherical Nucleic Acid, or SNA,
technology. Exicure believes that its proprietary SNA architecture
has distinct chemical and biological properties that may provide
advantages over other nucleic acid therapeutics and may have
therapeutic potential to target diseases not typically addressed
with other nucleic acid therapeutics. Exicure is based in Chicago,
IL.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. All statements in this press release other than statements of
historical fact may be deemed forward looking including, but not
limited to, statements regarding the Company’s business plans and
objectives, the continuation of the Company’s partnered programs,
efforts to enter into new partnerships in the field of nucleic acid
therapies and the proposed benefits of such partnered programs; the
potential advantages and clinical benefit of the Company’s SNA
platform and SCN9A program and the timing of future data readouts;
the future prospects of the Company; the Company’s ability to
execute on programs and reduce overall costs; and the Company’s
plans to increase shareholder value. Words such as “plans,”
“expects,” “will,” “anticipates,” “continue,” “expand,” “advance,”
“develop” “believes,” “guidance,” “target,” “may,” “remain,”
“project,” “outlook,” “intend,” “estimate,” “could,” “should,” and
other words and terms of similar meaning and expression are
intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all
forward-looking statements contain such terms. Forward-looking
statements are based on management’s current beliefs and
assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not
guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ
materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as
a result of various factors, including, without limitation: market
and other conditions, the risks that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
may disrupt the Company’s business and/or the global healthcare
system (including its supply chain) more severely than it has to
date or more severely than anticipated; unexpected costs, charges
or expenses that reduce the Company’s capital resources; the
Company’s preclinical programs do not advance into clinical or
result in approved products on a timely or cost effective basis or
at all; the results of early clinical trials are not always being
predictive of future results; the cost, timing and results of
clinical trials; that many drug candidates do not become approved
drugs on a timely or cost effective basis or at all; the ability to
enroll patients in clinical trials; possible safety and efficacy
concerns; regulatory developments; the ability of the Company to
obtain or maintain collaborations and/or collaborate successfully
with strategic partners; regulatory developments; exposure to
litigation, including patent litigation, and/or regulatory actions;
the ability of the Company to protect its intellectual property
rights; and the impact of the completion of the Company’s
previously reported internal investigation on the Company’s
business and diversion of management time and attention on related
issues, including any related investigations or proceedings,
shareholder lawsuits, reputational harm, or the possibility that
executives or other employees may resign. Given these risks and
uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
such forward-looking statements. For a discussion of other risks
and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could
cause the Company’s actual results to differ from those contained
in the forward-looking statements, see the section titled “Risk
Factors” in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 19, 2021, as
updated by the Company’s subsequent filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of
the date of the release, and the Company undertakes no duty to
update this information or to publicly announce the results of any
revisions to any of such statements to reflect future events or
developments, except as required by law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220204005116/en/
Karen Sharma MacDougall 781-235-3060 ksharma@macdougall.bio
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