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Nicox Appoints Christine Placet to Board of Directors; Michele Garufi steps down from Board

Press Release
Nicox Appoints Christine Placet to Board of Directors; Michele Garufi steps down from Board
  • Christine Placet is CFO of Theranexus, and was formerly CEO of Horama and Trophos
  • Michele Garufi, former Chairman and CEO of Nicox, hands over his Board position after over more than 25 years at the company he co-founded
  • The Nicox Board has now been entirely renewed to bring in the expertise to support the Company’s strategic direction going forward

September 4th, 2024 – release at 7:30 am CET
Sophia Antipolis, France

Nicox SA (Euronext Paris: FR0013018124, ALCOX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced that Michele Garufi is stepping down as a member of the Board of Directors. The Board has appointed Christine Placet, a deeply experienced CEO and financial leader in the biotech industry, as a new Board member. The renewal of the Nicox Board brings the appropriate expertise to support the Company’s strategic direction going forward.

“I am delighted to welcome Christine Placet to Nicox as a new Board member. I had the pleasure of working with Christine during our time at Trophos, where she played a pivotal role as CFO. Her expertise, strategic vision, and leadership in biotech are invaluable assets to Nicox. I look forward to working closely with her again as we continue to drive the business forward, with the focus on our de-risked compound NCX 470, moving towards topline results from the second pivotal Phase 3 trial, Denali, in H2 2025,” said Damian Marron, Chairman of Nicox.

On behalf of the Board and of Nicox, past and present, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Michele Garufi for his dedicated and unstinting service to the company. Nicox has benefited from Michele’s vision, business acumen, scientific expertise and leadership for nearly 30 years, as we have sought to develop innovative solutions to help maintain vision and improve ocular health. We all wish Michele the very best for the future.”

Michele Garufi, Co-Founder of Nicox, who served as CEO and Chairman until 2022 commented: “After many years of service at Nicox, this is the right time to hand over to a new generation of leadership. With Damian Marron appointed Chairman and Gavin Spencer as CEO earlier this year, we have a talented and dynamic leadership team in place who have led companies through critical phases of development and executed major financial transactions. I am therefore confident that Nicox is in very capable hands. I wish them every further success as they aim to deliver on the potential of NCX 470 to improve treatment of glaucoma.”

Christine Placet joins Nicox with a distinguished career in the biotech industry. She started as an auditor at Ernst & Young and then built up extensive experience of financial leadership in small- and medium- sized companies. In 2004, she joined the biotech company Trophos as Chief Financial Officer, later becoming Chief Executive Officer. Under her leadership, Trophos was acquired by Roche for €470 million in 2015. She then became CEO of Horama (now Coave Therapeutics) in 2016, successfully leading funding rounds and advancing a key product into development. In 2021, she transitioned into consulting and joined Theranexus as CFO in April 2024. She is a graduate of Kedge Business School.

About Nicox
Nicox SA is an international ophthalmology company developing innovative solutions to help maintain vision and improve ocular health. Nicox’s lead program in clinical development is NCX 470 (bimatoprost grenod), a novel nitric oxide-donating bimatoprost eye drop, for lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. Nicox generates revenue from VYZULTA® in glaucoma, licensed exclusively worldwide to Bausch + Lomb, and ZERVIATE® in allergic conjunctivitis, licensed in multiple geographies, including to Harrow, Inc. in the U.S., and Ocumension Therapeutics in the Chinese and in the majority of Southeast Asian markets.

Nicox, headquartered in Sophia Antipolis, France, is listed on Euronext Growth Paris (Ticker symbol: ALCOX) and is part of the CAC Healthcare index.

For more information www.nicox.com

Analyst coverage

H.C. Wainwright & Co Yi Chen New York, U.S.

 
The views expressed by analysts in their coverage of Nicox are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Nicox. Additionally, the information contained in their reports may not be correct or current. Nicox disavows any obligation to correct or to update the information contained in analyst reports.
Contacts 
Nicox
Gavin Spencer
Chief Executive Officer
T +33 (0)4 97 24 53 00
communications@nicox.com
Media / Investors
Sophie Baumont
Cohesion Bureau
+33 6 27 74 74 49 sophie.baumont@cohesionbureau.com
Disclaimer
The information contained in this document may be modified without prior notice. This information includes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These statements are based on current expectations or beliefs of the management of Nicox S.A. and are subject to a number of factors and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Nicox S.A. and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents, do not undertake, nor do they have any obligation, to provide updates or to revise any forward-looking statements.

Risks factors which are likely to have a material effect on Nicox’s business are presented in section 3 of the “Rapport Annuel 2023” which is available on Nicox’s website (www.nicox.com).

Finally, this press release may be drafted in the French and English languages. If both versions are interpreted differently, the French language version shall prevail.

Nicox S.A.
Sundesk Sophia Antipolis, Bâtiment C, Emerald Square, Rue Evariste Galois, 06410 Biot, France
T +33 (0)4 97 24 53 00

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