Cynapsus Therapeutics Announces Hiring of New Chief Scientific Officer and EVP, CMC
October 7, 2021
TORONTO, CANADA – Cynapsus Therapeutics (CTH: TSXV) (CYNAF: OTCQX), a specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced Thierry Bilbault, Ph.D., has been named Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Executive Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC). In this role, Dr. Bilbault will lead the strategic CMC activities related to the Company’s APL-130277 drug candidate, a convenient and easy to use sublingual thin film strip for the rescue of OFF motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Bilbault is a global pharmaceutical development and manufacturing operations leader with over 20 years of experience in the evaluation, development, partnering, transfer and manufacturing of API and Drugs (Rx, Generics, Switches, OTC) and Medical Device products. He has been involved with bringing more than 50 products to the market, including over 10 U.S. New Drug Applications. Dr. Bilbault joins Cynapsus from Galderma Pharma S.A. (part of Nestle Skin Health S.A.), where he has been a Technical and Industrial Development Director. Prior to Galderma, he served as Vice President New Technology and Product Innovation at Novartis, and held several product development leadership roles at Pfizer and Alcon Laboratories. Dr. Bilbault is a hands-on technical expert in product and manufacturing technology screening and implementation, drug delivery optimization, process scale-up, product/packaging validation, and technology transfer of innovative and conventional solid (including oral/thin films, IR, SR, DR tablets, capsules, ODT, chews, lozenges, gum etc.), topical and liquid drug products.
“We are excited to welcome Thierry to Cynapsus,” said Anthony Giovinazzo, President and Chief Executive officer of Cynapsus Therapeutics. “With more than two decades of experience in drug development and commercialization, Thierry’s outstanding scientific and commercial manufacturing leadership will support the advancement of our APL-130277 drug product. His strong background in innovation, building and leading global technical teams, as well as developing product and implementing global industrial strategies in the U.S., Europe and Asia will be critical to our success over the next 2 to 3 years.”
At Galderma, as Technical Director, Dr. Bilbault led the Engineering/SHE, QA & Regulatory Compliance, API and Strategic Raw Materials Technical Management, Portfolio Management and Industrial Development corporate and operational teams. He led the industrialization and transfer initiatives for Galderma Manufacturing & Technical Operations Division internal and third-party sites to develop capacity, support plant network strategies and generate the CMC data for global registration dossiers.
At Novartis, Dr. Bilbault led and managed the teams responsible for the search, evaluation and development of new technologies and dosage forms applicable to Smoking Cessation, Cough Cold Allergy, Dermatology, NSAIDs and GI. He also led intellectual property creation, new product idea generation and idea qualification for development across all brands and regions. He developed the growth strategy and built the organization supporting the 5 pillars of growth: Centers of Technology Excellence (Thin Films Strips, Oral and Derma/Transdermal technology platforms), creation of Alliance Management function, implementation of New Technology Search paradigm, initiation of monthly Intellectual Property Assessment Meetings and creation of Sensory Guidance and Evaluation and Packaging Innovation competencies. He led the global teams and launch activities for major brands including Triaminic, Theraflu and Gas-X Thin Strips.
At Pfizer CHC, Dr. Bilbault led the co-development of several multi-disciplinary teams on 85 active projects for Oral Care, Skin Care, Oral Thin Films and Patches, Eye Care, Upper Respiratory, New Technology Platforms, and Nicotine Replacement categories and was responsible for the technology due diligence, technical transfer and worldwide launch activities for Pfizer Consumer Healthcare OTC/NDA/Medical devices and cosmetic products. He developed with Pfizer Global Manufacturing (PGM) leadership, global internal/contract manufacturing sites, and Marketing/Sales operations global commercialization strategies, including sourcing decisions, internal capacity adjustments and contingency planning. At Pfizer, Dr. Bilbault developed and/or led the global launch activities for more than 30 products, including Listerine PocketPacks and Listerine Whitening Quick Dissolving thin films.
Dr. Bilbault holds a MS in Biological Engineering from CUST Engineering (Clermont-Ferrand, France), and was granted a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biology from Clermont-Ferrand II (Clermont-Ferrand, France).
About Cynapsus Therapeutics
Cynapsus is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing a convenient and easy to use sublingual (oral) thin film strip for the acute rescue of OFF motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. Cynapsus’ drug candidate, APL-130277, is an easy-to-administer, fast-acting reformulation of apomorphine, which is the only approved drug (in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries) to rescue patients from OFF episodes. Cynapsus is focused on maximizing the value of APL-130277 by completing pivotal studies in advance of a New Drug Application (NDA) expected to be submitted in 2016.
Over one million people in the U.S. and an estimated 4 to 6 million people globally suffer from Parkinson's disease. Parkinson’s disease is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disease that impacts motor activity, and its prevalence is increasing with the aging of the population. Based on a recent study and the results of the Corporation’s Global 500 Neurologists Survey, it is estimated that between 25 percent and 50 percent of patients experience OFF episodes in which they have impaired movement or speaking capabilities. Current medications only control the disease’s symptoms, and most drugs become less effective over time as the disease progresses.
More information about Cynapsus (TSX-V: CTH) (OTCQX: CYNAF) is available at www.cynapsus.ca and at the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com.
Contact Information
Cynapsus Therapeutics
Anthony Giovinazzo
President and CEO
(416) 703-2449 x225
[email protected]
Andrew Williams
COO & CFO
(416) 703-2449 x253
[email protected]
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Cynapsus to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those risks and uncertainties relating to Cynapsus’ business disclosed under the heading “Risk Factors” in its March 26, 2014, Annual Information Form and its other filings with the various Canadian securities regulators which are available online at www.sedar.com. Although Cynapsus has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Cynapsus does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the OTCQX International has approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.
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