Directorate Change
Dr Alastair Smith appointed as independent Non-Executive Director; David Templeton retires.
Select text to share a quote on X · sign in to keep highlights & notes in your THAT notes
N4 Pharma plc (AIM: N4P), the biotech developing Nuvec®, its proprietary gene delivery system to enable advanced therapies for cancer and other diseases, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Alastair Smith as an independent Non-Executive Director of the Company with immediate effect. In addition, David Templeton has retired as a Director of the Company with immediate effect due to personal reasons.
Alastair was the founder and former Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group plc ("Avacta"), an AIM-listed biotech company established as a spin-out from Leeds University in 2005 and listed on the London Stock Exchange AIM market in 2006.
| Over his tenure, Avacta grew into one of the leading AIM biotech companies comprising two divisions: a clinical stage oncology drug company advancing its proprietary pre | CISIONTM tumour targeting platform[1] and a diagnostics business executing an M&A-led growth strategy in Europe focused on healthcare professionals. |
Alastair joins the Company's remuneration and audit committees.
As part of his remuneration package, Alastair has been granted options over 5 million ordinary shares in the Company at an exercise price of 0.75p per share. The options vest in three equal tranches on the first, second and third anniversaries from the date of grant. The options have a term of ten years from the date of grant.
Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer, N4 Pharma, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Alastair to the Board of N4 Pharma. His experience in having founded and grown a start-up to become one of the UK's leading life science businesses will be invaluable in supporting the commercialisation of Nuvec® and advancing our pipeline of innovative therapies.
"On behalf of my fellow Directors and everyone involved with N4 Pharma, I would like to thank David for all he has contributed over his years with the Company. Whilst he will be sorely missed, his work on dual loading of Nuvec® and its potential for oral delivery has left us with a true point of difference and a clear path towards Phase 1 clinical trials. We wish him all the best for the future."
Alastair Smith commented: "I am delighted to be joining the Board of N4 Pharma. I see strong parallels between N4 Pharma and Avacta; both building a pipeline of therapies that are strongly differentiated by a proprietary platform technology and offer additional opportunities for early commercialisation through licensing.
"N4 Pharma's Nuvec® platform has the potential to solve a critical issue in the gene therapy market, a delivery system that can target multiple nucleic acids to specific tissues, and with the potential for oral delivery. This is hugely valuable and has the potential to make Nuvec® the delivery platform of choice for the gene therapy industry.
"I believe that Nuvec® will allow the Company to build a differentiated drug pipeline to drive long-term value and generate commercial progress through platform licensing deals and partnerships in the near term."
The following information is disclosed pursuant to Rule 17 and Schedule Two paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules for Companies in relation to Dr David Alastair Maclaughlin Smith, aged 58:
| Current Directorships/Partnerships | Past Directorships/Partnerships (within 5 years) | |
| Sparta BioDiscovery Limited | Avacta Group plc Avacta Animal Health Ltd Avacta Animal Health Inc. Avacta Analytical Limited Affimer Limited Avacta Ltd Avacta Life Sciences Limited Avacta Life Sciences Inc. Avacta Group Trustee Limited Avacta Finance (Jersey) Limited AffyXell Therapeutics Crossco (1127) Limited Launch Diagnostics Holdings Limited Launch Diagnostics Ltd Coris BioConcept SrL Coris Holdings SrL | |
| [1]Avacta's lead clinical programme, AVA6000, based on the Company's proprietary tumour targeting platform pre | CISION™, is a modified form of the established chemotherapy doxorubicin. pre | CISION™ is designed to release the active chemotherapy only in the tumour tissue, thereby sparing healthy tissue and improving the safety and tolerability of this effective anti-cancer therapy. AVA6000 is in the late stage of Phase I clinical trials in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours and has been shown to dramatically reduce the severity and frequency of doxorubicin toxicities. |
| N4 Pharma plc Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer Luke Cairns, Executive Director Investor questions on this announcement We encourage all investors to share questions on this announcement via our investor hub | Via N4 Pharma Investor Hub Sign up at investors.n4pharma.com https://investors.n4pharma.com/link/VyEJpe | |
| SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Matthew Johnson/Caroline Rowe (Corporate Finance) Vadim Alexandre/Abigail Wayne/Rob Rees (Corporate Broking) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470 | |
| Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited Joint Broker Andy Thacker/James Pope | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3657 0050 | |
| Northstar Communications Limited Investor Relations Sarah Hollins | Tel: +44 (0) 113 730 3896 |
About N4 Pharma
N4 Pharma's lead programme, N4 101, is an oral anti-inflammatory product for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) which serves as a proof-of-concept programme showcasing all the benefits of the Nuvec® platform. With an estimated 10 million people globally suffering from Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the IBD treatment market was worth $20.4bn in 2023 and is expected to grow by a CAGR of 3.9% to over $27.6bn by 2030, driven by both increased incidences of the disease and development of new treatments.
| 1 | Details of the person discharging managerial responsibilities / person closely associated | |
| a) | Name | Alastair Smith |
| 2 | Reason for the notification | |
| a) | Position/status | Non-Executive Director |
| b) | Initial notification /Amendment | Initial notification |
| a) | Name | N4 Pharma plc |
| b) | LEI | 213800I841D2RKMFK955 |
| a) | Description of the financial instrument, type of instrument Identification code | Options over Ordinary Shares of 0.4p each Identification code (ISIN) for N4 Pharma plc ordinary shares: GB00BYW8QM32 |
| b) | Nature of the transaction | Issue of options over ordinary shares of 0.4p each |
| c) | Price(s) and volume(s) | Price(s) Volume(s) 0.75p exercise price 5,000,000 |
| d) | Aggregated information - Aggregated volume - Price | n/a |
| e) | Date of the transaction | 8 January 2025 |
| f) | Place of the transaction | Outside a trading venue |
Cleaned text: letterheads, contacts and legal notices removed. View the original announcement ↗ · Company filings. Not investment advice.