Senior appointments at QuoNova as it accelerates compound development towards commercialisation
17 March 2008
XL TechGroup (AIM: XLT), the creator of companies that solve identified, global unmet market needs, announces that its 88.7% owned company QuoNova LLC, which is developing multiple classes of safe and efficacious anti-virulence agents in the global fight against bacterial infection and damage caused by microbial biofilms, has appointed three new senior executives in global roles to support its next phase of growth.
QuoNova is developing and commercializing its proprietary Quorum Sensing Blocker (“QSB”) platform as part of a strategy to introduce a disruptive paradigm of “smart microbial control”. QuoNova is targeting multiple multi-billion dollar markets including therapeutics, medical devices, consumer care, agriculture and several industrial applications.
Michael Rochelle BA, MBA has joined QuoNova as VP Strategic Marketing & Business Development. He has over 20 years of commercial experience in biopharmaceuticals, clinical laboratory and consulting. Most recently, Mr. Rochelle was VP at Nabi Pharmaceuticals, serving in a variety of roles including strategic planning and business development. Mr. Rochelle’s background includes business development roles with International Clinical Laboratories, SmithKline Beecham Laboratories and Integrated Genetics/Genzyme Corporation.
Jim Walls BS, MS is the new VP Product Development for QuoNova. He has over 25 years of medical device product development experience, 15 years of which were dedicated to reducing hospital acquired medical device infections. Mr. Walls has held VP of R&D positions for Kendall Healthcare (now Covidien, LLC) and C.R. Bard, Inc. Most recently he was VP of Business Development for Bacterin International, Inc.
Mohamed Baccouche MS, PhD has joined as VP Regulatory Affairs and is based in QuoNova’s office in Germany. He has 30 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry with clinical development, project management and regulatory strategy for new drugs and maintenance of worldwide marketed products. Most recently, Mr. Baccouche was head of Global Regulatory Affairs and Scientific Information at Byk Gulden and Altana Pharma.
QuoNova’s QSB technology is an anti-virulence approach, which shows potential to prevent the consequences of microbial infection while not promoting resistance. In recent months, QuoNova has demonstrated the efficacy of its QSB technology in a predictive animal model where QSBs significantly reduced the ability of clinically relevant bacteria to colonize secondary burn wounds. In addition, a marked synergy with Silver Sulfadiazine, a commonly used antibacterial preparation, has been observed. QuoNova has also generated in-vitro data indicating high efficacy of selected QSBs in inhibiting biofilm formation by MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) strains and fungal organisms such as Candida.
Dr. Heiri Gugger, CEO of QuoNova, said: “The excellent progress continuing to be made by our scientific team in identifying, optimizing and testing our compounds across a broad spectrum gives us even greater confidence in our QSB platform to rapidly move towards targeted development and commercialization. I am therefore delighted that we have been able to attract top industry talent with years of relevant experience, which is a testament to our progress and further validates the growth potential of QuoNova.”
For further information:
| XL TechGroup | |
| John Scott / Harold Gubnitsky | Tel: +1 321 409 7403 |
| hgubnitsky@xltg.com | |
| Chris Munden, Director of Investor Relations | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7398 7720 |
| cmunden@xltg.com | www.xltechgroup.com |
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