MILAN, Italy, Jan. 8, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- BioXell SpA, the Italian biopharmaceutical company focused on immunology, today announced the appointment of Alex Martin as Chief Business Officer. Mr Martin also joins BioXell's executive committee.
Mr. Martin comes to BioXell from Novartis Pharma, AG, where he was Vice President, Global Business Development and Licensing, and was responsible for partnering key Novartis assets via co-development and co-commercialisation alliances; additionally, he was responsible for out-licensing non-strategic compounds for Novartis. Before joining Novartis, Mr Martin worked for four years at Medscape, Inc., and prior to that, eight years at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) where he held various positions in sales, marketing, and business development.
Mr. Martin obtained a BA degree from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1995. As Chief Business Officer at BioXell, Mr. Martin will be responsible for business development as well as for commercial input into the development process.
Dr. Sinigaglia, Chief Executive Officer of BioXell said: "We are delighted that Alex has joined BioXell. We welcome his considerable business development and industry expertise and look forward to his active role in the development of the company."
Mr. Martin commented: "I am very pleased to be joining BioXell at this exciting time of growth and to use my skills to help the company develop further. I look forward to contributing to the company's future success."
BioXell is a privately-held pharmaceutical company with a competitive edge in immunology developing two strong technology platforms based on the TREM receptor system and Vitamin D3 analogues. From these, BioXell has identified molecules to be developed in secondary hyperparathyroidism and benign prostatic hyperplasia. In addition, the company has research programmes in inflammatory diseases including asthma, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis and has a collaboration with TaiGen Biotechnology for the research and development of GPCRs in the area of inflammatory diseases. In March 2002, BioXell raised Euro 22m in a first-round financing from a consortium of three top-tier venture capital firms: MPM Capital, Index Ventures and Life Sciences Partners. BioXell has a network of academic collaborations, including Washington University, St. Louis and the Universities of Arkansas, Milan, Florence, Modena and Zurich.
More information on BioXell can be found on: www.bioxell.com
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