Microbiotica, a leading player in microbiome-based therapeutics and biomarkers, announces the appointment of Hans Schikan as Non-Executive Chairman, effective immediately.

Hans brings decades of commercial, development, transactional and leadership experience from the biopharma industry. He is a well-established biopharma leader, having held many board memberships on both private and publicly listed companies throughout his career, and currently serves on the boards of Pharvaris NV, VectivBio AG, Vicore Pharma AB, Complix NV, InteRNA Technologies BV and the Dutch Top Sector Life Sciences and Health.

Between 2009 and 2015, Hans served as the Chief Executive Officer of Prosensa, a biopharmaceutical company in the rare disease space. There, he and his team struck a key partnership with GlaxoSmithKline targeting Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, and led Prosensa’s $90 million IPO on NASDAQ, before successfully completing the Company’s acquisition by BioMarin for up to $840 million. Prior to his time at Prosensa, Hans served as Vice President Global Marketing and Strategic Development at Genzyme.

Hans will replace Sam Williams, who has served as Interim Chairman for the last ten months, and will continue as a Non-Executive Director representing IP Group plc.

Hans Schikan, Non-Executive Chairman of Microbiotica, said:

“Microbiome research is rapidly emerging as one of the most exciting areas of biomedicine and one that I believe presents great potential for a wide range of therapeutic fields. Microbiotica’s world-leading platform, ongoing collaborations and internal pipeline, especially in the immuno-oncology space, positions the Company well for future growth in this sector. I believe my experience can support the Company on its growth trajectory, and I look forward to working with the Board to help Microbiotica bring new therapies to patients.”

Mike Romanos, CEO of Microbiotica, said:

“We are delighted to welcome Hans as Chairman of the Board of Directors. This has been a year of significant progress for the Company, with a newly strengthened management team, a new Company site in Cambridge and progression into development of our cutting-edge immuno-oncology programme with Cancer Research UK and Cambridge University Hospitals that has yielded exceptional preclinical data. Hans’ experience in developing innovative companies internationally will be invaluable in supporting our strategic growth, and we greatly look forward to working with him.”