Appointment of Chief Executive Officer
28 July 2022
Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody
discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and
diagnostic applications, announces the appointment of Dr Adrian Kinkaid
as Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”), effective from Monday 15 August
2022. Adrian’s appointment follows an extensive formal search process
further to the Company’s announcement on 14 March 2022.
Adrian Kinkaid is an experienced life sciences executive with 25 years’
experience in life science and biotherapeutics industries. He
joins Fusion from Vortex Liquid Biopsy Solutions Ltd and Vortex
Biosciences Inc. (together “Vortex”), a biotech group focused on
world class technology for the isolation of high quality circulating
tumour cells. As CEO of Vortex, Adrian led the company’s
development, including management of its business units.
Prior to joining Vortex, Adrian worked as CEO at several antibody-based
diagnostics companies including BioFab Ltd, and Lumabs BV. He was
formerly the Chief Commercial Officer for Promexus Ltd, a protein
biotherapeutics company where he developed the corporate strategy for
Therapeutic Affimers, culminating in a multi-target deal with a
potential of over $1bn. Adrian was previously Chief Business
Officer of the Aptamer Group, and Strategic Market Development Leader
for Abcam plc, the leading provider of research antibodies.
Adrian has a PhD in Biochemistry and undertook postdoctoral research with
the Institute of Cancer Research, London. As Chairman and founding
member of the European Laboratory Research and Innovation Group, Adrian
established their flagship Drug Discovery event, which is now the
leading conference of its kind in Europe.
Simon Douglas, Chairman of Fusion Antibodies, commented:
“I would like to welcome Adrian who joins Fusion at an exciting time
as we focus on growing our antibody services and completing the
development of and commercial roll out next year of OptiMAL, our
Mammalian Antibody library.”
Adrian Kinkaid said: “I am delighted to be joining Fusion Antibodies at this exciting time of growth and look forward to leading the Company to further commercial success. Fusion Antibodies has a world class technology platform built over the last decade that has the potential to generate significant value and play a global role in the provision of high quality services to enhance the discovery and development of novel, effective antibody therapeutics.”
Enquiries:
| Fusion Antibodies plc | www.fusionantibodies.com | |
| Simon Douglas, Chairman | Via Walbrook PR | |
| James Fair, CFO | ||
| Allenby Capital Limited | Tel: +44 (0)20 3328 5656 | |
| James Reeve / Vivek Bhardwaj (Corporate Finance) | ||
| Tony Quirke (Sales and Corporate Broking) | ||
| Walbrook PR | Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 fusion@walbrookpr.com | |
| Anna Dunphy | Mob: +44 (0)7876 741 001 | |
| Paul McManus | Mob: +44 (0)7980 541 893 | |
The following disclosures are made in accordance with the AIM Rules
for Companies:
Adrian Robert Kinkaid, aged 55, is or has been a director or partner of
the following companies and partnerships in the past five years:
Current directorships/partnerships:
Scorpio Bioscience Ltd
Directorships and partnerships held within the last five years:
BioFab Ltd
MIP Diagnostics Ltd
Lumabs BV
Dr Kinkaid does not hold any ordinary shares in the Company
Save for the information set out above, there are no further disclosures
to be made in accordance with Rule 17, Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules
for Companies in respect of the appointment of Dr Kinkaid.
About Fusion Antibodies plc
Fusion is a Belfast-based Collaborative Research Organisation (“CRO”)
company, listed on AIM, providing a range of antibody engineering
services for the development of antibodies for both therapeutic drug and
diagnostic applications.
Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation,
development, characterisation, optimisation, and small-scale production.
These services include antigen expression, purification and sequencing,
antibody humanisation using Fusion's proprietary
CDRxTM platform and cell line development,
producing antibody generating stable cell lines optimised for use
downstream by the customer to produce material for clinical trials.
Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced and expressed
over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 200 humanisation
projects for its international customer base, which has included eight
of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.
At every stage, our client’s vision is central to how we work in
combining the latest technological advances with cutting edge science.
In this work our world-class humanization and antibody optimization
platforms harness the power of natural somatic hypermutation (SHM) to
ensure the best molecule goes to the clinic. Fusion Antibodies’ growth
strategy is based on enabling Pharma and Biotech companies get to the
clinic more effectively, using molecules with optimized therapeutic
profile and enhanced potential for successful development and approval
and, ultimately, on speeding up the drug discovery and development
process. Fusion’s use of SHM to create a fully human antibody library to
capture the human antibody repertoire will address a continuing market
need in antibody discovery,
Fusion Antibodies’ emphasis on antibody therapeutics is based on the size
and growth rate in the sector, with the market valued at $135.4 billion
in 2018 and forecast to surpass $300 billion by 2025, a CAGR of 14.26%.
As of May 2021, there were 100 approved antibody therapies on the market
and more than 570 antibody therapies in clinical development.
