Phico Therapeutics Ltd (‘Phico’), a biotechnology company developing a novel platform technology as the basis of a new generation of antibiotics to overcome antibacterial resistance, has announced the appointment of Andrew Armour as Financial Director (FD), and Professor Mark Wilcox and David Beadle as Non-Executive Directors (NEDs). The appointments have been made to support the progression of Phico’s lead product SASPject™ PT3.8 through clinical trials, and the financing of the Company’s planned clinical-grade manufacturing facility.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190115005373/en/

SASPject PT3.8 has been developed for the intravenous treatment of hospital infections due to the bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. using Phico’s SASPject platform, which utilises unique antibacterial small acid-soluble spore proteins to target and deactivate bacterial DNA.

Andrew Armour is a Chartered Accountant with experience in the healthcare industry, particularly in financial restructuring, equity fundraising and corporate acquisitions and disposals. Andrew previously held positions at Grant Thornton and Deloitte, working on restructuring and corporate finance assignments, before becoming the FD of Colchester Hospital. Andrew works with the FD Centre and joins Phico as our Finance Director on a part-time basis, bringing a wealth of experience in strategic financial management to support the Company in its upcoming fundraising activities and partnering negotiations.

Prof Mark Wilcox has held several positions at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals and is currently a Consultant Microbiologist and Head of Research and Development in Microbiology, and Professor of Medical Microbiology at the University of Leeds. He has a wealth of clinical experience in infectious diseases and advises Public Health England and NHS England on diagnosis, prevention and development of infection prevention and control products and new antimicrobial agents to target healthcare associated infections. Mark has been involved with Phico for a number of years from representing the Wellcome Trust (WT) as their Expert on Phico’s two WT Awards, and will now further support the Company in progressing SASPject PT3.8 through clinical trials in his new role as an NED.

David Beadle has over 25 years’ experience within healthcare and finance, having worked in marketing and strategic development at Schwarz Pharma and Schering AG before moving into investment banking, where he built and led highly ranked healthcare equity research teams both globally and across Europe for over 10 years. He is specialised in consulting on scientific, corporate finance and business development strategies within the healthcare and biotechnology space. David joins Phico as an NED and will primarily advise on strategies for business development.

Dr Heather Fairhead, CEO at Phico, said: “The collective experience that Mark, David and Andrew have in clinical and business development will help us to deliver upon our strategy of developing an antibacterial therapy to help overcome the global problem of antimicrobial resistance. I am thrilled to welcome them to the team.”

Andrew Armour, Financial Director at Phico, said: “I look forward to working with Phico at this time to support with fundraising for its planned clinical-grade manufacturing facility, which will deliver not only Phico's drugs for clinical trials but also generate a revenue stream by providing a manufacturing service to other companies.”

Prof Mark Wilcox, Non-Executive Director at Phico, said: “It’s exciting to see the potential of the SASPject™ platform. This novel approach could provide a number of significant advantages over traditional antibiotics, and I am looking forward to supporting its clinical development.”

David Beadle, Non-Executive Director at Phico, said: “The Company is uniquely placed to capitalise on the potential of an underdeveloped area of antimicrobial resistance with its novel technology and I am delighted to be working with their team to aid Phico’s business development.”

ENDS

To opt-out from receiving press releases from Zyme Communications please email info@zymecommunications.com. To view our privacy policy, please click here.