PQS Phoqus

RNS Number:9876G
Phoqus Pharmaceuticals PLC
05 November 2007







   Phoqus Pharmaceuticals Appoints Dr Patrick Round as Chief Medical Officer





West Malling, UK, 5 November 2007: Phoqus Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: PQS) 
("Phoqus Pharmaceuticals" or "the Company"), the speciality pharmaceutical
company, announces it has appointed Dr Patrick Round to the position of Chief
Medical Officer.



Dr Round's appointment is a key part of the strengthening of Phoqus
Pharmaceuticals' senior management team as the Company progresses its lead
product candidate Chronocort(TM) towards pivotal Phase III trials, anticipated to
commence during the first half of 2008 subject to further consultation with the
FDA. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr Round will lead the Chronocort(TM) development
programme and will also play a key role in building the Company's future product
pipeline.



Prior to joining Phoqus Pharmaceuticals, Dr Round was Senior Vice President
Development at Cambridge Antibody Technology ("CAT" now part of AstraZeneca)
which he joined in 2004 and was responsible for all of CAT's product development
activities. Before joining CAT, he was Director of Development at Celltech Group
plc (now part of UCB) where he led product development. He has also held
Clinical Research positions at GlaxoWellcome and Novo Nordisk and has extensive
experience of the development of new medicines including in the endocrinology/
diabetes field and also the development of novel biologic and immunomodulatory
drugs. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists and a Fellow of the
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine and graduated in Medicine from Charing Cross
Hospital Medical School, London in 1982.



Phoqus Pharmaceuticals' CEO, Dr Richard Mason, commented:



"The Board is delighted to have attracted a product development professional of
Patrick's calibre and experience to join our company. His expertise in
endocrinology will be particularly useful to us at this critical stage of
preparing for Chronocort's pivotal Phase III studies."





Enquiries:


Phoqus Pharmaceuticals plc                             Tel: 01732 870227
Dr Richard Mason, CEO
Dr Peter Johnson, CFO

Financial Dynamics                                     Tel: 020 7831 3113
David Yates/Sue Quigley

Nomura Code Securities                                 Tel: 020 7776 1200
Juliet Thompson/Phil Walker





Notes to Editors



About Chronocort(TM)



Chronocort(TM) is the first circadian endocrine treatment for congenital adrenal
hyperplasia ("CAH") and adrenal insufficiency ("AI").  Chronocort(TM) uses Phoqus'
proprietary Qtrol(TM) modified release technology to provide a
delayed-and-sustained release profile of hydrocortisone to mimic the natural
over-night and early morning hormone levels found in healthy individuals that
are considered important in controlling both actual disease symptoms and also
reducing unwanted side effects resulting from excess steroid treatment.



Phoqus appointed a medical advisory board at the beginning of 2007 comprising
leading endocrinologists from Europe and the USA to assist the Company in the
design of the clinical development programmes able to demonstrate patient
benefits and clinical superiority of Chronocort(TM) over existing therapies for
both CAH and AI.



Some of the underlying intellectual property supporting the Chronocort(TM) product
is licensed from Diurnal Limited, a spin-out from the University of Sheffield
financed by Biofusion plc.  Phoqus and Diurnal collaborate on certain aspects of
Chronocort(TM)'s development.





About Phoqus Pharmaceuticals



Phoqus Pharmaceuticals is a speciality pharmaceutical company that develops
differentiated products for use in high value, specialist indications. It seeks
to accelerate the rate and lower the risk of new drug development by applying
its novel re-formulation expertise and drug delivery technologies to finding new
indications for known, approved drugs. This avoids the high failure rate
typically associated with new chemical entities (NCEs) which often founder due
to safety issues encountered early in development.



The company's lead product is Chronocort(TM) for the treatment of patients with
cortisol deficiency due to diseases such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia and
Addison's Disease. It is differentiated from existing therapies because it is
designed to release steroid in a pattern that mirrors a healthy subject. At
present Chronocort(TM) is scheduled to reach the market in 2009/10.



Phoqus Pharmaceuticals aims to in-license product development opportunities from
academia and university spin-out companies. By collaborating with these groups
the company will access fundamental biological and clinical insights into
existing drug action and apply this knowledge to develop new indications for
those drugs. The company aims to capitalise on accelerated regulatory pathways
such as the priority review process to further fast track products to market.



www.phoqus.com




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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