Board transition

3 June 2020

Oxford BioDynamics Plc

("OBD" or the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Board Transition

·    Industry expert Dr Peter Pack, Non-Executive Director, appointed as Non-Executive Chairman, succeeding Stephen Diggle

Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM:OBD), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of epigenetic biomarkers, based on regulatory 3D genome architecture, using its liquid biopsy platform EpiSwitchä, today announces that Dr Peter Pack, Independent Non-Executive Director, has been appointed as Independent Non-Executive Chairman of Oxford BioDynamics. Stephen Diggle, who was holding the position of Interim Chairman, will transition to the role of Non-Executive Director.  

Peter brings over 27 years of international life sciences experience to his new role. He started his career at MorphoSys AG as co-inventor of one of the most commercially successful human antibody libraries. Following this, he was co-founder and CEO of MTM laboratories AG (Heidelberg, Germany and Westborough, US), which is now part of Roche Diagnostics. During his time as CEO, Peter successfully established a fully integrated diagnostic company from scratch, developing and internationally commercialising novel, biomarker-based CINtec® tests for the screening and diagnosis of cervical cancer.

Between 2015 and 2019 he headed the Cambridge, UK-based therapeutics company Crescendo Biologics Ltd, leading its transition from a transgenic platform company to a developer of multispecific biologics with an internal, late stage preclinical pipeline in oncology. Peter has also been a board member of the transfection specialist PolyPlus (Strasbourg, France) and the biomarker company Signature Diagnostics (Potsdam, Germany) which is also now part of Roche Diagnostics.

Peter joined the OBD Board in April 2019 and in his first year as a Non-Executive Director has provided excellent support and challenge to the Executive Directors, as well as developing a deep understanding of OBD's technology and business.

Dr Peter Pack, Non-Executive Chairman, Oxford BioDynamics, said: "It has been a pleasure to work with the Board and management team since I joined as a Non-Executive last year. The Company has grown significantly in the past few years, increasing its international footprint, its portfolio of intellectual property, and the range of global pharma and biopharma companies on its roster. This is an exciting time for OBD as we plan for further commercialisation of the EpiSwitch™ platform. I look forward to leading the Board and supporting the new CEO Jon Burrows and the rest of his team." 

Dr Jon Burrows, CEO of Oxford BioDynamics, added: "I am delighted that Peter is taking on the role of Non-Executive Chairman. His significant commercial experience will be invaluable in his new role as Chairman and I look forward to him supporting the Company as we seek to deliver significant success for shareholders. On behalf of the whole Board, I would also like to thank Stephen Diggle for his commitment and leadership in the position of Interim Chairman over the last year and look forward to his continued membership of the Board as a Non-Executive Director."

Stephen Diggle, Non-Executive Director, Oxford BioDynamics, said: "I'm very pleased to be stepping down as Interim Chairman to make way for Peter Pack and resume my role as a Non-Executive Director. Since joining the Board Peter has demonstrated the knowledge, acumen and judgement required to be Chairman of a company with the potential of Oxford BioDynamics." 

-ENDS-

For further details please contact:

Notes for Editors

About Oxford BioDynamics Plc

Oxford BioDynamics Plc (AIM: OBD) ("Oxford BioDynamics") is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of epigenetic biomarkers for use within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. 

The Company's award-winning, proprietary technology platform, EpiSwitch™, aims to accelerate the drug discovery and development process, improve the success rate of therapeutic product development and take advantage of the increasing importance of personalised medicine. 

In particular, EpiSwitch™ can reduce time to market, failure rates and the costs at every stage of drug discovery.  Additionally, the technology provides significant insights into disease mechanisms for drug discovery and product re‐positioning programmes and enables the personalisation of therapeutics for patients in the context of challenging pricing environments where improved clinical outcomes are critical.

In April 2019, Oxford BioDynamics received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Innovation. The Queen's Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious awards for UK businesses.

The Company is headquartered in the UK and listed on the London Stock Exchange's AIM under the ticker "OBD".  For more information please visit www.oxfordbiodynamics.com.