Poxel Appoints Khoso Baluch to its Board of Directors

Lyon, France, March 21, 2013 - Poxel SA today announced the appointment of Khoso Baluch to its Board of Directors. Mr. Baluch will serve as an independent director and will further strengthen the Board by providing additional business strategy expertise on a worldwide basis. Khoso Baluch is senior vice president & President European Region at UCB, the global biopharmaceutical company. Prior to joining UCB, Khoso worked for Eli Lilly & Co for 24 years, holding international positions spanning Europe, the Middle East and the United States in General Management, Business Development, Market Access and Product leadership. Khoso was appointed Vice President of U.S. Diabetes and Family Health Business unit during his tenure at Lilly. He served as a Board Member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Indiana Chapter, and was Chair of the nomination committee. He also served at the American Diabetes Association National Industry Advisory Board. Khoso is also a member of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) Executive Committee.

Mr. Thierry Hercend, MD, PhD and chairman of the board, commented: "We are very pleased to have Mr. Baluch serve on our board. With his long-standing, international experience and know how in the pharmaceutical industry, especially his deep expertise in the Type 2 diabetes space and his extensive network in the diabetes community, Khoso will make a significant contribution to Poxel as it moves forward over the coming years."

Khoso Baluch added: “I look forward to working with the Poxel team to further enhance the value and the commercial opportunity of its lead program for diabetes. Imeglimin, Poxel’s very promising antidiabetic product represents a new treatment option for the rapidly growing needs of Type 2 diabetic patients. I am excited to be a part of this novel therapy approach with a company dedicated to helping diabetes patients achieve a better quality of life." 

About Poxel SA
Poxel, founded in 2009, is a biopharmaceutical company developing innovative first-in-class drugs, with a primary focus on Type 2 diabetes. The company develops drug candidates to clinical proof-of-concept before seeking pharmaceutical industry partners. Poxel was spun out from Merck Serono. It operates independently as a lean organization with strong in-house drug development expertise. Poxel’s product pipeline consists of several first-in-class Type 2 diabetes products, including Imeglimin in Phase II development. Recently, Imeglimin has also shown significant clinical benefits in Type 2 diabetes, when added to sitagliptin. The Phase II study achieved the primary and secondary endpoints. Previously, Imeglimin has shown incremental efficacy as an add-on therapy to metformin, in patients inadequately controlled by monotherapy. In addition, a direct activator of AMPK is in preclinical development for the treatment of Type 2. For more information, please visit www.poxel.com

Media Contacts

Poxel SA
Mrs. Pascale Malgouyres, Business Development and Marketing Director
Phone: +33 437 372 012
Email: pascale.malgouyres@poxelpharma.com

MC Services AG 
Mr. Raimund Gabriel, Managing Partner 
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Email: raimund.gabriel@mc-services.eu