Press Releases
November 22, 2001
Neurotech names Chief Financial Officer
Bernard Davitian brings life-science corporate finance experience
to eye therapy specialist
Paris, November 22, 2001 - Neurotech S.A., specialist in the discovery,
development and marketing of retinal therapies, announces today
the appointment of Bernard Davitian as Executive Vice President
and Chief Financial Officer.
Davitian, 41, brings substantial experience of finance in the biotech
industry. He will be responsible for all corporate finance including
the financial aspects of external partnerships , corporate acquisitions,
managing investor relations and corporate communications, and preparing
the company for an IPO when appropriate. He will also assume responsibilities
for and oversee the accounting, purchasing, human resources, legal
affairs, project management, information systems and other administrative
services. Neurotech is taking this key step in augmenting its capabilities
in the financial and administrative areas following one of the largest
pre-IPO biotech funding rounds in Europe earlier this year.
Davitian comes to Neurotech after a spell as chief financial officer
at Fortel, a telecommunications company. He has extensive experience
in the life sciences industry. From 1995 to 2000, he was executive
vice president and chief financial officer of Transgene, where he
actively contributed to the signature of major corporate partnerships
in the USA and to the successful completion of Transgene's IPO on
Nasdaq and the Nouveau Marché. From 1986 to 1994, he served
in various capacities at Institut Mérieux, including that
of Corporate Chief Financial Officer from 1990 to 1994. Prior to
that, he was a senior auditor at Arthur Andersen.
A certified public accountant, Bernard Davitian holds an MBA from
the EM Lyon Graduate School of Business and an AMP from the Wharton
School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
"Bernard Davitian brings exactly the kind of experience we
need to move Neurotech forward to the next level of our international
development," said Dr Tom Shepherd, CEO of Neurotech. "He
is one of the most knowledgeable financial executives in the biotech
field with extensive experience of public offerings and corporate
partnerships in both Europe and the USA. We are very happy to welcome
him to the Neurotech team."
"I am delighted to be back in the biotech industry with its
great potential for innovation and growth, its high level of ethical
standards and its real contribution to public health," said
Davitian. "I have been really impressed by the progress Neurotech
has achieved under the leadership of Tom Shepherd. I expect to contribute
to making it even more successful backed by its high quality people,
its pertinent scientific choices, its competitive positioning in
ophthalmology, its strong US presence driving its development, and
its financing obtained from knowledgeable biotechnology investors".
About Neurotech:
Neurotech S.A. is a French based biotechnology company developing
cell therapy and protein delivery products in the eye and brain.
Neurotech's Encapsulated Cell Technology (ECT) allows, for the first
time, the long term administration of protein drugs in the eye and
CNS. In addition to the ECT, Neurotech has a portfolio of cell therapy
products in development to treat eye and CNS disease. Neurotech
has R&D operations in France and the United States and is supported
by an international group of investors including: Merlin Biosciences,
Apax Partners, 3i Plc, Atlas Venture, Westdeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale,
GIMV, CDC-Innovation, Sofinnova, ABN Amro, AGF Innovation, Rothschild,
Banexi, IMH, Private Equity Holdings, Sudinnova, and Banque de Vizille
For further information please contact :
Bernard Davitian, CEO
Neurotech
Phone: 1 401 333-3880 x3136
Email: b.davitian@neurotech.fr
|
