Quercis Announces Executive Leadership Appointments

ZUG, Switzerland, April 13, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Quercis Pharma AG, a private, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging its novel antithrombotic platform, today announces the appointment of several new executives to the Company's leadership team.  John Boghossian, former Vice President of Operations at COMPASS Pathways, will join Quercis as Chief Executive Officer; Manon Veraart, former Vice President of Business Development at COMPASS Pathways, will join as Chief Business Officer.  In addition, Thomas Pfeiffer, Ph.D., former Senior Researcher at University College London, will join as Director of Pipeline Projects.  Ilias Läber, Ph.D., the current Chief Executive Officer at Quercis, will transition out of his operational role by end of April 2021 and will remain in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors.  In addition, Lars Wilde, co-founder, President and Chief Business Officer of COMPASS Pathways and co-founder of atai Life Sciences, will join Quercis as an independent member of the Board of Directors. 

"We are delighted to welcome John, Manon, Lars and Thomas to the Quercis team. Their considerable experience building successful biopharma companies is relevant to Quercis and will be instrumental in leading us through our next stage of development, as this team successfully built COMPASS Pathways from pre-seed to IPO in less than four years," stated Dr. Läber.  "As we take the next steps in Quercis' journey, there is a good fit between what the Company needs and what this team of experienced biotech entrepreneurs can provide as we advance our clinical development pipeline and bring new medicines to patients in need."

"This is an exciting time to be joining Quercis as we are nearing the initiation of late-stage clinical studies in a number of indications with significant unmet need and market opportunities," noted Mr. Boghossian.  "I am delighted to be working with this talented and dedicated team to build Quercis into a leading biopharma company delivering innovative, safe, and broadly accessible treatments to patients with potentially life-threatening conditions."

Bios of new team members:

John Boghossian: John is passionate about life sciences entrepreneurship around natural products, and the opportunities they represent to fill unmet patient needs.  He was the first business hire and ultimately led operations and co-led fundraising activities as Vice President of Operations at COMPASS Pathways, a clinical stage company focused on the development of psilocybin in various psychiatric and mood disorders.  Prior to this, John was a management consultant in the life sciences practice at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Europe and the U.S.  Mr. Boghossian earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Economics at MIT, a Master of Philosophy at the University of Cambridge and a Master of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School.  

Manon Veraart: Before joining Quercis, Manon was Vice President of Business Development at COMPASS Pathways, where she worked in close collaboration with John and Lars.  She was one of the first employees at COMPASS and responsible for Business Development as well as the IPO process.  Prior to this, Manon was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in London.  Earlier in her career, Manon worked on the Natural Resources M&A team at Goldman Sachs in London.  Ms. Veraart earned a Master of Business Administration from INSEAD, Masters' and Bachelors' degrees in Business Administration from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Leiden University.  

Lars Wilde: Lars is joining Quercis as an independent member of the Board.  Lars is a serial entrepreneur and investor in technology and biopharma.  He currently serves as president and co-founder of COMPASS Pathways, a leading mental health care company, which he took public on NASDAQ.  He is also co-founder of atai Life Sciences, which recently raised a pre-IPO financing round at a valuation in excess of $2 billion.  Before joining COMPASS, Lars was the founder and CEO of Springlane and co-founder of Otto Wilde.  Lars previously was an investor with Waterland Private Equity.  Mr. Wilde earned a Master of Finance from IE Business School in Spain and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands. 

Dr. Thomas Pfeiffer: Thomas strives to translate scientific advances into solutions for unmet patient needs.  Thomas has more than a decade of experience in brain blood flow, brain immunity and synapse physiology.  He has published in Nature, Science, Nature Communication, eLife and other scientific journals.  Dr. Pfeiffer has been awarded three international fellowships for his innovative and cutting-edge science.  Most recently, he was a Senior Researcher at University College London.  He has worked as a scientific consultant to a number of companies including COMPASS Pathways.  Thomas has also worked at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Natural and Medical Science Institute of Reutlingen and Tübingen University.  Dr. Pfeiffer holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and Microscopy from Bordeaux University, a Master of Molecular Bioscience from Heidelberg University and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Life Sciences and Microsystems Technology from Kaiserslautern University.

About Quercis Pharma AG
Quercis Pharma AG is a private, biopharmaceutical company based in Zug, Switzerland.  Quercis Pharma is advancing a development pipeline of late-stage clinical studies that focus on the prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in cancer patients. In addition, Quercis targets other diseases associated with thrombotic events, such as sickle cell disease (SCD), Ebola and COVID-19.  The Company's lead drug candidate acts as an antithrombotic with significantly lower risk of adverse events than existing treatments.  Quercis plans to initiate two Phase 3 studies for the prevention of VTE in pancreatic cancer and glioblastoma patients and will pursue U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the prevention of VTE in all cancer types based on these studies.  In addition, the Company is preparing to conduct a number of studies for the treatment of SCD (Phase 2) and COVID-19 (Phase 2/3).

Contact:
Ilias Läber, Ph.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Quercis Pharma
[email protected]

Anne Marie Fields
Managing Director
Rx Communications Group
[email protected] 

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SOURCE Quercis Pharma AG