Berlin Cures strengthens Business Advisory Board with the appointments of Ulf Berg, Ph.D., and Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D.

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27 Jun, 2018, 06:00 GMT

Internationally Renowned Industry Veterans Provide Strategic Developmental Experience for the Company's Transition to a Global Commercial Entity

ZUG, Switzerland, June 27, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Drug developer Berlin Cures today announced the formation of a Business Advisory Board (BAB) and the appointment of its first two members, Dr. Ulf Berg and Dr. Dragan Grabulovski. The BAB's role will be to provide ongoing counsel, along with strategic guidance in business development decision-making, as the company advances the clinical development of its pipeline. The company's lead drug candidate, BC 007, is the first drug designed to target an autoimmune cause of heart failure as well as the symptoms of the disease.

"Drs. Berg and Grabulovski each bring rich, valuable skills and insights to Berlin Cures," said Dr. Johannes Müller, founder, president of the Board of Directors of Berlin Cures Holding AG. "Their counsel will allow for better market understanding of the unmet medical need serviced by our revolutionary therapy, BC 007. Our entire leadership team looks forward to working closely with them as we shape and execute on our corporate strategy."

Dr. Berg commented, "The skills of the team in place and the focus of the business will provide unique value to the patients and stakeholders, alike. There is great potential for BC 007 for the treatment of dilated cardiomyopathy as well as in other medical conditions."

Dr. Grabulovski added, "Berlin Cures has the potential to treat the underlying cause of cardiac insufficiency rather than just the symptoms. It will be imperative for us to properly position the company and its pipeline to maximize the benefits that this groundbreaking therapy."

Inaugural Members:

Ulf Berg, M.Sc. and Ph.D. Dr. Berg is a partner in BLR & Partners Ltd, Thalwil, a Swiss private equity firm and member of the Board of directors of various BLR-portfolio-firms. He has been non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of EMS-Chemie Holding AG since August 2007. He worked for ABB (formerly BBC) in various managerial positions in Switzerland and abroad for more than 20 years until 1998. From 1999 to 2001, Dr Ulf Berg was COO/CEO of Carlo Gavazzi Holding AG. From 2003 to 2004, he was CEO of SIG Beverages Int. AG before moving to Sulzer AG as CEO in 2004. From 2007 to 2009, he was non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sulzer AG Switzerland. Dr Ulf Berg was a member of the Management Board Committee of Swissmem from 2004 to 2015 and 2006 to 2017 he was a member of the Board of Directors of Bobst SA Switzerland. 2012 to 2016 he was a member of the Board of Directors of Synagro Ltd., Baltimore, USA. Since 2012, Dr Ulf Berg is member of the Board of Greater Zurich Area AG, Switzerland, and Am-Tec AG, Zurich. Since 2016 Dr. Ulf Berg is a member of the advisory board of G+E Getec Holding GmbH, Magdeburg as well as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kuoni Reisen Holding AG, Zurich.
Dragan Grabulovski, Ph.D. Dr. Grabulovski is founder and CEO of Swiss-based Grabulovski Consulting Services GmbH. He has over 10 years of experience as a consultant to biotech startups and venture capital companies, and is an authority on corporate strategy, drug discovery, the positioning of drug candidates, intellectual property strategy, fundraising and business development. Dr. Grabulovski previously was chief scientific officer and co-founder of Covagen, a Swiss biotechnology company acquired by Cilag GmbH International, an affiliate of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

BC 007 is a DNA aptamer-based compound that binds to and eliminates pathogenic autoantibodies directed against the beta-1 adrenoceptor, a receptor belonging to the large family of cell surface receptors known as G-protein coupled receptors that regulate the heart's rate and contraction strength. Heart cells are harmed by autoantibodies that chronically bind to these receptors in a process that has been found to lead to heart cell death and organ failure in 80 percent of dilated cardiomyopathy patients. BC 007 is currently completing a Phase 1 clinical study for the treatment of cardiomyopathy (NCT02955420).

About Berlin Cures
Berlin Cures Holding AG, a privately-held company founded late in 2014 and based in Zug, Switzerland, is building a new generation of treatments based on a quarter of a century of research on autoimmune diseases conducted at the renowned Charité Berlin and at the Max-Delbrueck-Center in Berlin. The focus is to develop treatments for diseases with autoimmune pathology in which functional autoantibodies directed against G-protein-coupled receptors of different types are present.

With over 1000 different sub-types, the family of G-protein-receptors constitutes the largest protein super-family with the physiological ability to sense molecules outside the cell. Berlin Cures holds the IP for a platform of aptamers that bind to and neutralize these functional autoantibodies, which play an important role in the pathophysiology of several autoimmune-diseases.

Recent studies involving heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome, pre-eclampsia and a significant number of other diseases have shown that these functional autoantibodies play a highly underestimated role in disease development and sustenance. Neutralizing these autoantibodies can lead to substantial improvements in treatment.

For more information, http://www.berlincures.ch.

Media Contact: Maggie Beller, 1-646-942-5631, maggie.beller@russopartnersllc.com