Versameb Strengthens its Board of Directors

• Significant appointments of experienced drug development and financial experts - Hernán Levett, Dr Lily Geidelberg, Paul Korner, MD, MBA and Dr Alexandre LeBeaut

BASEL, Switzerland, July 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Versameb AG ("Versameb"), transforming (m)RNA therapeutics to cure hard-to-treat and/or prevalent diseases, is pleased to announce the appointments of Hernán Levett, Dr Lily Geidelberg, Paul Korner, MD, MBA and Dr Alexandre LeBeaut to its board of directors as it prepares to enter clinical development with lead candidate, VMB-100, an RNA-based therapy for the treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI).

The appointments come at a significant time of growth and expansion for Versameb. It has recently completed an internal financing round to further strengthen its cash position in preparation to advance its lead candidate, VMB-100, into clinical development in the second half of 2023. In addition, the Company is planning to expand its ground-breaking innovative platform with two discovery programs for the treatment of solid tumors with CTA/IND filing expected in 2026.

Dr Klaas Zuideveld, Chief Executive Officer of Versameb, said: "The experience of Hernán, Lily, Paul and Alexandre significantly strengthens the board of directors as we advance our lead candidate, VMB-100 for the treatment of SUI, into clinical development and further expand our technology platform, Versagile, with the development of two new discovery programs. Each of the new board members will add knowledge and expertise in all areas of the business as we ramp up for an exciting year of growth and development, executing our Company strategy through data readouts of our programs to deliver the promise of RNA therapeutics."

Hernán Levett has over 25 years of financial experience at international biotech and pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the US. Mr Levett began his international pharma career at Novartis where he held roles of increasing responsibility in various countries and for regional functions as well as being CFO for one of Novartis' affiliates. Following a 10-year tenure at Novartis, Mr Levett became VP of Finance at a US-listed company, InterMune, which was subsequently acquired by Roche for $8.3 billion. He then served as CFO at NASDAQ-listed company, Auris Medical. He is currently CFO of Spexis AG (formerly Polyphor), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. He holds a CPA degree from the University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of Economics.

Dr Lily Geidelberg is a Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Brevan Howard, a leading global alternative investment management platform. Dr Geidelberg is focused on compelling biopharma investment opportunities in the public markets as well as private biotech opportunities, combining both domain expertise with macroeconomic analysis. She is also an independent board member of eureKING, the first European SPAC dedicated to bioproduction. Prior to joining Brevan Howard, Dr Geidelberg completed her PhD at Imperial College London in mathematical modelling of infectious disease epidemics.

Paul Korner, MD, MBA is a board-certified obstetrician & gynecologist physician executive with over 24 years of pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience, previously serving in senior R&D leadership positions for Ferring Pharmaceuticals, Ardelyx Inc., Sarepta Therapeutics and Axovant Gene Therapies. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer of Agile Therapeutics. Dr Korner has been responsible for multiple INDs/CTAs and more than 50 clinical trials (phase 1-4), leading to marketing authorization/approvals of 10 products. While serving as SVP Clinical & Medical Affairs at Axovant Gene Therapies, he advanced two gene therapy programs into IND and BLA enabling clinical trials. He is a member of the scientific advisory team for Laidlaw Venture Partners and serves on the Board of Directors for Voltron Therapeutics.

Dr Alexandre LeBeaut is a seasoned R&D executive who has worked with companies from the preclinical to post-marketing stage and has extensive international drug development experience particularly in immunology, oncology, gastroenterology, cardio-metabolic and infectious diseases. He has held leadership positions in global biopharmaceutical companies including Schering-Plough Research Institute, Novartis, Sanofi, Axcan Pharmaceuticals and Bluebird Bio. Most recently, Dr LeBeaut served as Executive Vice-President R&D and Chief Scientific Officer at Ipsen in the US and as CEO at the Institute for Advanced Clinical Trials for Children. He is a member of the Board of Calypso Biotech and OSE Immunotherapeutics. Dr LeBeaut earned his M.D from Paris Diderot University and is board-certified in Pediatrics from Paris Descartes University.

Versameb has developed a groundbreaking, proprietary technology platform, VERSagile, which optimizes the application of functional RNA in different disease contexts. The Company's lead therapeutic candidate, VMB-100, has demonstrated first-in-class potential for the treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) in a pre-clinical animal model demonstrating regeneration and functional restoration of the urinary sphincter.

About Versameb

Versameb is reprogramming biology by developing enhanced mRNA therapeutics to cure hard-to-treat and prevalent diseases. We target the biology of complex diseases with optimally designed separately patented highly potent molecules with very low immunogenicity. Our VERSagile platform is versatile, scalable and applicable to any nucleotide. Our 'plug-and-play' mRNA is targeted, both to specific tissues and cell compartments, and is able to up or down-modulate up to six proteins simultaneously – addressing the complex heterogeneity of most diseases, which have multiple inter-connected causes and targets. This genetic modulation stimulates the body to heal itself, making better and more cost-effective therapies accessible to the patients that need them. The initial focus, in our rapidly growing candidate pipeline, is VMB-100, a regenerative, multi-life-cycle therapy for stress urinary incontinence, with proof of concept in multiple animal models and human clinical studies due to start shortly.  We also have two discovery programs for solid tumors targeting CTA/IND filing in 2026. 

More information on Versameb can be found at www.versameb.com as well as on LinkedIn.