EQS-News: Newron proposes renowned biopharma company founder and entrepreneur Dr. Chris Martin for election as Independent Chairman

Newron proposes renowned biopharma company founder and entrepreneur Dr. Chris Martin for election as Independent Chairman 

Expected to succeed Dr. Ulrich Köstlin who has notified Newron of his intention to retire after 12 years of service as Chairman of its Board of Directors, effective following completion of this year’s AGM 

Chris Martin, former CEO of ADC Therapeutics, will be proposed for election as Independent Non-Executive Director and new Chairman of the Board of Directors at Newron’s upcoming AGM

Milan, Italy and Morristown, NJ, USA – March 24, 2025, 5:45 pm CET – Newron Pharmaceuticals S.p.A. (“Newron”) (SIX: NWRN, XETRA: NP5), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system, today announced that its Board of Directors has identified Chris Martin, DPhil,  as a potential Independent Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Board and will propose him for election at Newron’s upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held on April 23, 2025, in Bresso (Mi), Italy. Martin is an accomplished public and private company director with deep expertise in commercial drug development and a proven track record in founding and leading successful biopharma companies. He is expected to succeed Ulrich Köstlin, who has served as Chairman of the Board since 2013. Köstlin will end his board service following the completion of this year’s AGM.

Dr. Chris Martin is a recognized leader in the biopharma industry who has taken therapeutic technology from the lab bench through to regulatory approval and global market sales. Over his career, he has raised more than $1.4 billion on the capital markets to support the development of his companies. He was instrumental in co-founding ADC Therapeutics in 2012 and served as its CEO from its inception until 2022. Under his tenure, the Swiss-based ADC Therapeutics grew from a private biotech start-up to a New York Stock Exchange listed leader in the field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADC) with products marketed worldwide. He co-founded and was the CEO of Spirogen Ltd, an innovator of ADC payload technology, which was subsequently sold to AstraZeneca for a total of up to $440 million. Currently chairing the boards of MyricxBio, Tagworks, Tokamak Energy Ltd. and serving on the boards of Osivax SAS, Solcom Ltd. and Senya therapeutics (all private companies), Chris Martin holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Aston University, a DPhil in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford, and an MBA from IMD Business School. He is a British citizen and lives in Switzerland.

“Chris has successfully guided the development of blockbuster therapies from discovery to approval and commercialization,” said Ulrich Köstlin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Newron. “I am confident his expertise and vision will be invaluable as we advance our Phase III schizophrenia asset, evenamide, and I know he shares our excitement for its potential.”

“Newron’s future is bright and in the best of hands,” continued Köstlin. “With that assurance, I am gratified to be able to announce today my intention to retire, effective after the upcoming AGM. I am proud of my fellow directors, our CEO Stefan Weber, and our outstanding management team who have led Newron to renewed strength and promise.”

“I am honored and excited to be the proposed candidate for the Chairman of the Board during this important time for Newron,” said Chris Martin, DPhil. “I look forward to collaborating with the executive team and my fellow board members to advance Newron's strategy and help bring life-changing therapies to patients worldwide.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Chris to Newron. His experience and insights will be of enormous value as we build upon our progress in the coming years,” said Stefan Weber, CEO and Executive Director of Newron. “I also want to express my sincere thanks to Ulrich for his many years of board service and stewardship and his unwavering support in the challenging environment in which we operate, all of which has been of great value to Newron and its shareholders, and to me personally as CEO. On behalf of the entire team at Newron, we wish him all the best in his well-earned retirement.”

Martin would be the third Independent Non-Executive Director nominated within the last 24 months to Newron’s Board, which now constitutes the majority of its five Non-Executive Directors.

About the 2025 Ordinary and Extraordinary Annual General Meeting

Newron’s next Ordinary and Extraordinary Annual General Meeting (AGM and EGM) of Shareholders will take place on April 23, 2025. The full AGM and EGM agenda will be published for shareholders’ review at the beginning of April, 2025 and will be available on the Company’s website here, together with all the necessary information to register and attend the meeting, in addition to all documents connected with the agenda as per applicable laws and regulations.

About Newron Pharmaceuticals

Newron (SIX: NWRN, XETRA: NP5) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel therapies for patients with diseases of the central and peripheral nervous system.

Headquartered in Bresso, near Milan, Italy, Newron is advancing its lead compound, evenamide, a first-in-class glutamate modulator, which has the potential to be the first add-on therapy for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) and for poorly responding patients with schizophrenia. Evenamide is currently in Phase III development and clinical trial results to date demonstrate the benefits of this drug candidate in the TRS patient population, with significant improvements across key efficacy measures increasing over time, as well as a favourable safety profile, which is uncommon for available antipsychotic medications.

Newron has signed development and commercialization agreements for evenamide with EA Pharma (a subsidiary of Eisai) for Japan and other Asian territories, as well as Myung In Pharm for South Korea.

Newron has a proven track record in bringing CNS therapies to market. Its Parkinson’s disease treatment, Xadago^® (safinamide), is approved in over 20 markets, including the USA, UK, EU, Switzerland, and Japan, and commercialized in partnerships with Zambon and Meiji Seika. For more information, please visit: www.newron.com.

For more information, please contact:

Newron
Stefan Weber – CEO
+39 02 6103 46 26
pr@newron.com

UK/Europa
Simon Conway / Ciara Martin / Natalie Garland-Collins, FTI Consulting
+44 20 3727 1000
SCnewron@fticonsulting.com

Switzerland
Valentin Handschin, IRF
+41 43 244 81 54
handschin@irf-reputation.ch

Germany/Europa
Anne Hennecke / Maximilian Schur, MC Services
+49 211 52925227
newron@mc-services.eu

USA
Paul Sagan, LaVoieHealthScience
+1 617 865 0041
psagan@lavoiehealthscience.com