Cristal Therapeutics appoints Dr Werner Cautreels as a new Director and Board Chairman and Andre Verwei as Chief Financial Officer

August 01, 2019

Maastricht, The Netherlands, 1st August 2019 – Cristal Therapeutics, a Phase 2 clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing targeted nanomedicines for the treatment of cancer and other diseases with high unmet patient need, announces that Dr Werner Cautreels is joining the Company’s supervisory board taking on the role of Chairman. Dr Cautreels succeeds Simon Sturge, who steps down to focus on his new role as CEO at Kymab. In addition, Andre Verwei is appointed as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) with immediate effect.

Dr Cautreels was most recently CEO of Selecta Biosciences (SELB: NASDAQ) until his retirement in December 2018, to pursue a portfolio career. Previously he held senior management positions at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Sanofi, Sterling Winthrop and Nycomed-Amersham in Europe and in the USA. Dr Cautreels has a Ph.D from the University of Antwerp and an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School.

Andre Verwei brings global experience in partnering and financing at a critical time in Cristal Therapeutics’ development as it looks to partner its lead programme CPC634 and to raise additional finance to progress its business strategy. Over the last 20 years he has held senior financial roles at numerous private and listed biotech companies including ProQR (PRQR: NASDAQ), UniQure (QURE: NASDAQ), and IsoTis. He has played an instrumental role across various corporate transactions as well as supporting the IPOs of ProQR on NASDAQ and Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (later acquired by UniQure) on Euronext Amsterdam. Andre has an MSc in business economics and a RA (Dutch CPA) from the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Werner Cautreels, Chairman of Cristal Therapeutics said: “I am very pleased to join the Supervisory Board of Cristal Therapeutics as its Chairman and look forward to working with the Board and the Management Team to take the Company to the next stage in its development. I strongly believe that the differentiated therapeutics that are developed using Cristal’s Cripec® nanotechnology platform have the potential to make a significant contribution to the high medical need for patients in oncology and other therapeutic areas.”

Commenting on his appointment, Andre Verwei, CFO of Cristal Therapeutics said: “It is an exciting time to be joining Cristal Therapeutics’ management team, as the Company matures. The Company has built an excellent CriPec® nanotechnology platform and is poised to become a global player in the field of nanomedicines, an area which has huge potential.”

Dr. Axel Mescheder, CEO and CMO of Cristal Therapeutics said: “I would like to welcome Werner and Andre to the Company. They both bring a wealth of global industry experience, complementing the skills and expertise that we have. I am confident that they will play a vital role in supporting the next steps in our corporate development, including advancing our clinical drug program and securing business collaborations around our nanotechnology platform.
“On behalf of Cristal Therapeutics I would like to express our deep gratitude to Simon Sturge for his outstanding strategic guidance of the Company over the past 5 years. We wish him every success in his new role at Kymab.”

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About Cristal Therapeutics
Cristal Therapeutics is a phase 2 clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing targeted nanomedicines for the treatment of cancer and other diseases with high unmet patient need and considerable commercial potential. The Company’s product candidates are based on its proprietary CriPec® polymeric nanoparticle technology platform, which enables the design of customized nanomedicines with superior therapeutic profiles. CriPec®-based products have the potential to provide enhanced efficacy and reduced side effect profiles, thus offering improved disease treatment.
The Company’s lead product, CPC634, is in clinical phase 2 studies for the treatment of solid tumors. The Company has several other products in preclinical development focussed on the treatment of cancer. Cristal Therapeutics is a private company that has raised over €20M equity financing to date. The Company’s headquarters and laboratories are located in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Find out more: www.cristaltherapeutics.com

For more information, please contact: Cristal Therapeutics: Dr Axel Mescheder
Chief Executive Officer / Chief Medical Officer
T: +49 17 263 608 90
E: Axel.Mescheder@cristaltherapeutics.com

Media relations:
Instinctif Partners
Sue Charles / Dr Eileen Paul / Dr Katie Duffell
T: +44 20 7457 2013
E: cristal@instinctif.com