Hansa Medical appoints members of committees – Lars

Hansa Medical AB (publ) has appointed members of audit, remuneration and scientific committees. The scientific committee consists of renowned scientists Professor Lars Björck and Professor Hans Wigzell in addition to three board members. The board of Hansa Medical has decided to inaugurate three committees, partly as preparation for listing on the Nasdaq Stockholm main market. The audit committee consists of board members Anders Blom, chairman of the committee, Per Olof Wallström and Birgit Stattin Norinder, chairman of the board. The remuneration committee consists of board members Birgit Stattin Norinder, chairman of the committee, Stina Gestrelius and Per Olof Wallström. The scientific committee consists of Professor Lars Björck, chairman of the committee, Professor Hans Wigzell and board members Stina Gestrelius, Birgit Stattin Norinder and Cindy Wong. – We are particularly pleased with having two as distinguished scientists as Lars Björck and Hans Wigzell on our scientific committee, says Birgit Stattin Norinder, chairman of the board of Hansa Medical AB. Lars Björck, born 1949, M.D., Ph.D., was appointed professor of Medical and Physiological Chemistry at Lund University in 1990, a position he held until 2004, when he was appointed professor of Infection Medicine at Lund University. He is former head of the Division of Infection Medicine at Lund University. His research has resulted in 15 approved patents and seven pending patent applications, among them the patents and patent applications related to Hansa Medical’s most important project, IdeS. He has published more than 180 peer reviewed publications. Positions: 1975-1981    Teaching assistant at the Department of Medical and Physiological Chemistry, Lund University 1975-1981    Clinical training in various specialities (in total 24 months) 1981-1988    Member of the staff of physicians, Departments of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Lund University Hospital 1989-1990    Associate professor of Immunochemistry, Department of Medical Microbiology, Lund University 1990-2004    Professor of Medical and Physiological Chemistry, Lund University  2004-           Professor/physician Infection Medicine, Lund University Memberships: Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2006) Member of the Royal Physiographic Society, Lund (2006) Priority committee member at the Swedish Medical Research Council (1990-1996) Chairman of the Ph.D. programme at the Medical Faculty, Lund University (1990 -1996) Vice chairman, Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Lund University (1995 -1998) Head of the Section for Molecular Pathogenesis, Lund University (1995-2004) Head of the Division of Infection Medicine, Lund University (2004-2014) Member of the Board, the Infection and Vaccinology Programme Network sponsored by The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (1996-1998) Member of the Scientific Board, SBL Vaccin AB (1997-1999) Member of the Fernström Prize Committee (1997-2002) Member of the Editorial Board of Infection and Immunity (1998-2000) Member of the Scientific Board, the Crafoord Foundation (2003-2008) Member of the Board, the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (2004-2013) Member of the Research Board, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (2013-) Awards: The Anna-Greta Crafoord Award 1987 The Fernström Prize for young and successful scientists 1990 Ulf Widengrens Minne 1990 The Jubilee Prize 1991 awarded by the Swedish Society of Medicine The Göran Gustafsson Prize in Medicine 1997 awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Hilda and Alfred Eriksson Prize 2005 awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Söderberg Prize in Medicine 2006 awarded by the Swedish Society of Medicine Hans Wigzell, born 1938, M.D., D.Sc., was first appointed professor 1973, at which time he became professor and chairman at the Department of Immunology at Uppsala University Medical School in Uppsala, Sweden. He was professor of immunology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden for more than 20 years until he retired in 2004, from 1995 also President of Karolinska Institutet. He has been Director General of the National Bacteriological Laboratory and later the Swedish Institute for Infections Disease Control in Stockholm, Sweden, and Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Government 1999 – 2007. He is associated with Karolinska Institutet and adjunct professor of the Institute for Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA, and of Ehime University, Japan. He has published more than 700 articles in international journals. Positions: 1967-1971    Special Cancer Scientist Position, Swedish Cancer Society 1971-1973    Acting Associate Professor, Department of Tumor Biology, Karolinska Institutet 1973-1982    Professor, Chairman, Department of Immunology, Uppsala University Medical School, Uppsala, Sweden 1982-2004    Professor of Immunology, Karolinska Institutet 1988-1993    Director General, National Bacteriological Laboratory, Stockholm, Sweden 1990-2001    Chairman of the EC Concerted Research Programme – European Vaccine against AIDS (Programme EVA) 1990-1992    Chairman of the Nobel Committee, Karolinska Institutet 1993-2000    Member of the Nobel Committee, Karolinska Institutet 1993-1994    Director General, Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Stockholm, Sweden  2000            Chairman, Nobel Assembly, Karolinska Institutet 1995-2003    President of Karolinska Institutet 1999-2007    Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Government  2000-           Adjunct professor, Institute for Human Virology, University of Maryland, Baltimore, USA  2001-           Adjunct professor, Ehime University, Japan Memberships: Honorary member for life of the American Society for Immunology Elected foreign member of the Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters since 1986 Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, class for medical sciences since 1987 Member of the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences since 1987 Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences Member of Academia Europea Member of EMBO Member of The Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters 2001 Awards: Anders Jahres Medical prize, 1975, from Oslo University, Norway Eric Fernström’s Prize, 1979, Medical Faculty, Uppsala University Laurea ad honorum, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rom, 1995 San Marino Award for outstanding medical research, 1997 Smith Lecture Award, MD Anderson, 2001 Doctor honoris, Turku University, Finland, 2004 Honorary Doctor, The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, New York, USA, 2007 Doctor honoris, Helsinki University, Finland, 2011 Areas of research: Tumorbiology, vaccines. Development of isotope techniques for measuring of cytolosis of cells. Regulation of antibody synthesis. Development of techniques allowing specific affinity chromatography of cells. Analysis of T cell receptors for antigen. Description and analysis of natural killer cells and NK cells. Specific regulation of transplantation immunity using auto-anti-idiotypic approaches. Maternal-fetal immunological parameters. Lectin analysis and isolation of biologically interesting molecules. DNA as a tool in diagnosis and gene analysis. HIV and immunity. Infections and immunity. About IdeS IdeS, a unique molecule with a novel mechanism, is a bacterial enzyme that cleaves human IgG antibodies. IdeS degrades all IgG specifically, swiftly and efficiently. IdeS has been tested for safety and efficacy in numerous in vitro and in vivo models. During 2013, a Phase I clinical trial on 29 healthy subjects was conducted, demonstrating IdeS as efficacious and well tolerated with a favorable safety profile. During 2014 and 2015, a Phase II clinical trial in sensitized patients awaiting kidney transplantation has been conducted. Preliminary data shows that IdeS has very good efficacy in highly sensitized patients on the kidney transplant waitlist. The study shows that IdeS has the capacity to make sensitized patients eligible for transplantation by decreasing HLA antibodies to levels acceptable for transplantation. In addition to transplantation, IdeS has potential indications within a variety of rare autoimmune diseases including anti-GBM disease. IdeS is protected by several patents and has been published in numerous peer review journals. The information was released for public disclosure on February 19, 2015 at 8.30. For further information, please contact: Hansa Medical AB Fredrik Lindgren, President and CEO Mobile: 46 705 61 61 77 E-mail: fredrik.lindgren@hansamedical.com www.hansamedical.com About Hansa Medical AB Hansa Medical is a biopharmaceutical company focused on novel immunomodulatory enzymes. Lead project IdeS is an antibody-degrading enzyme in clinical development, with potential use in transplantation and rare autoimmune diseases. Other projects include HBP (a market introduced diagnostic marker for severe sepsis) and EndoS (an antibody-modulating bacterial enzyme in pre-clinical development). The company is based in Lund, Sweden. Hansa Medical's share (HMED) is listed on NASDAQ First North in Stockholm with Remium Nordic AB as Certified Adviser. Major shareholders are Farstorps Gård AB and Nexttobe AB.