Leiden, the Netherlands, January 21,
2025: Pharming Group N.V. (“Pharming” or “the
Company”) (EURONEXT Amsterdam: PHARM/Nasdaq: PHAR) announces today
that the Board of Directors has nominated Fabrice Chouraqui to
become Pharming’s new Executive Director and Chief Executive
Officer, succeeding Sijmen de Vries.
Pharming will nominate Mr. Chouraqui for the
appointment as Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for a
term of four years at an upcoming Extraordinary General Meeting of
Shareholders (EGM). Information regarding the EGM, including the
notice to convene, will be shared shortly in a separate press
release.
Upon the appointment of Mr. Chouraqui, Sijmen de
Vries will resign from the Board of Directors. To ensure a smooth
hand-over of tasks and responsibilities, Mr. de Vries will remain a
strategic advisor to the new CEO until December 31, 2025.
Dr. Richard Peters, Chairman of the
Board of Directors, commented:“After an extensive search,
the Board and I are confident that Fabrice Chouraqui is the right
candidate to lead Pharming and continue to implement our growth
strategy, shaping Pharming into the rare disease company of choice.
Fabrice is a deeply experienced global pharmaceutical and
biotechnology executive, who brings a wealth of profound global
expertise and experience, across the entire biopharmaceutical value
chain, to Pharming.
On behalf of the entire Board of Directors, I
would like to thank Sijmen de Vries for his great commitment to
Pharming over the past 16 years and for creating the company that
it is today, serving patients and paving the way for delivery on
the company’s strategy for growth. We are grateful that Sijmen will
continue to be available through the end of the year to ensure a
smooth hand-over with Fabrice.”
Sijmen de Vries, Chief Executive
Officer, commented:“I am very pleased with the nomination
of Fabrice Chouraqui as my successor. Fabrice brings strong
leadership experience with global pharmaceutical companies and
highly innovative biotechnology companies to Pharming. To make way
for Fabrice to take over the executive leadership of the Company, I
will resign from the Board of Directors upon the appointment of
Fabrice by our shareholders. I look forward to supporting Fabrice,
working closely together through the remainder of the year, and
ensuring a smooth hand-over.”
Fabrice Chouraqui commented:“I
am honored to have the opportunity to take over the leadership of
Pharming, building on the strong foundation and joining at a time
when I can help propel the company through its next stage of growth
in the rare disease space. I am impressed by Pharming’s growing
portfolio of products and commercial opportunities which will pave
the way for us to become the rare disease company of choice.”
ProfileMr. Fabrice Chouraqui
(date of birth: August 1, 1970, French national, U.S. citizen) is a
global pharmaceutical executive with a record of value creation at
Flagship Pioneering, Novartis and Bristol-Myers Squibb. A
purpose-driven leader with a passion for bringing innovative
treatments to patients, Mr. Chouraqui has a reputation for building
strong followership in organizations. He is scientifically minded,
with a deep understanding across the business spectrum, from
research and development to access and commercialization, including
strong expertise in investor management and business
development.
Across his career, Mr. Chouraqui has led the
launch of treatments in many therapeutic areas, including highly
targeted specialty care drugs and large primary care medicines. He
consistently demonstrates strategic and innovative thinking to
achieve long-lasting results and has a strong record of developing
next generation talents and highly diverse teams.
Until recently, Mr. Chouraqui was a CEO-Partner
at Flagship Pioneering, one of the largest Biotech Venture Capital
firms in the US. Mr. Chouraqui also served as CEO of Cellarity,
Inc., one of the companies created by Flagship Pioneering. In his
CEO capacity, Mr. Chouraqui was leading the development of
Cellarity, a company which is driving a radically new approach to
drug discovery by working at the intersection of AI and biology.
Mr. Chouraqui raised over $250M and attracted world-renowned
investors. He initiated a collaboration with Novo Nordisk and had
Cellarity recognized as a top biotech to watch by several sources.
Today, Mr. Chouraqui holds the position of Executive Chairman at
Cellarity.
Prior to joining Flagship Pioneering, Mr.
Chouraqui spent 10 years at Novartis. He was President of Novartis
Pharmaceuticals USA from 2016 to 2019, during which he delivered
strong growth despite negative price impact and significantly
improved profitability. Promoted to turn around performance after
the business suffered issues with recent launches, Mr. Chouraqui
developed sophisticated commercial and access capabilities to meet
the new market environment. He achieved strong market positions for
two significant growth drivers (Cosentyx and Entresto), drove the
uptake of the rare disease drug Ilaris, initiated the landmark
PIONEER clinical trial in heart failure, and championed several
business development initiatives. Mr. Chouraqui moved the
organization’s culture from “consensus building, conservative and
siloed” to “questioning, experimenting and collaborative.” He also
served as Novartis representative on the board of BIO.
Before leading the US organization, Mr.
Chouraqui was President, Latin America & Canada (2014-2016) for
Novartis Pharmaceuticals, responsible for leading a portfolio shift
from established primary care medicines to innovative specialty
care drugs. He also served as Global Head, Business Franchise
Neuroscience (2012-2014). In this role, he relaunched Gilenya
(Multiple Sclerosis) following a post-launch regulatory review and
made Gilenya the largest growth contributor in the Novartis
five-year strategic plan. Mr. Chouraqui also addressed late-stage
pipeline gaps with the start of the siponimod program in Secondary
Progressive Multiple Sclerosis (approved in 2019) and the
identification of business development opportunities, which led to
the in-licensing of ofatumumab in MS from GSK (launched as
Kesimpta) and a partnership with Amgen on erenumab for migraine
(launched as Aymovig).
From 2000 to 2010, Mr. Chouraqui held multiple
international roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, ultimately serving as
Vice President, Commercial Operations, Asia-Pacific and General
Manager, Southeast Asia (2008-2010). He began his career in R&D
roles at Roussel Uclaf and Hoechst Marion Roussel,
pharmaceutical companies that were predecessors to today’s
Sanofi.
Mr. Chouraqui earned a MBA from INSEAD and a
Doctorate in Pharmacy, a Post-Graduate Degree in Quality Assurance
of Medicines, and a MSc in Biological and Medicinal Sciences from
University of Paris V.
Mr. Chouraqui shall have stepped down as
Executive Chairman of Cellarity, Inc., a non-listed company, no
later than upon his appointment as the new Executive Director and
Chief Executive Officer of Pharming. Thereafter, Mr. Chouraqui
intends to serve as a non-executive Board member of Cellarity.
Mr. Chouraqui also holds the position of
independent Board member of OranoMed, a non-listed (and therefore
private) subsidiary of Orano Group. OranoMed is a company
specialized in the research and development of Pb-212 based
radioligand alpha therapies for the treatment of various types of
cancers.
The resume of Mr. Chouraqui is available on our
website.
For further public information,
contact:Pharming Group, Leiden, the NetherlandsMichael
Levitan, VP Investor Relations & Corporate CommunicationsT: +1
(908) 705 1696E: investor@pharming.com
FTI Consulting, London, UKVictoria Foster
Mitchell/Alex Shaw/Amy ByrneT: +44 203 727 1000
LifeSpring Life Sciences Communication, Amsterdam,
the NetherlandsLeon MelensT: +31 6 53 81 64 27E:
pharming@lifespring.nl
About Pharming Group
N.V. Pharming Group N.V. (EURONEXT Amsterdam:
PHARM/Nasdaq: PHAR) is a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated
to transforming the lives of patients with rare, debilitating, and
life-threatening diseases. Pharming is commercializing and
developing an innovative portfolio of protein replacement therapies
and precision medicines, including small molecules and biologics.
Pharming is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands, and has
employees around the globe who serve patients in over 30 markets in
North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and
Asia-Pacific.
For more information, visit www.pharming.com and
find us on LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking
Statements This press release may contain
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
statements of future expectations that are based on management’s
current expectations and assumptions and involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results,
performance, or events to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in these statements. These forward-looking statements are
identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”,
“ambition”, ‘‘anticipate’’, ‘‘believe’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘estimate’’,
‘‘expect’’, ‘‘goals’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘may’’, “milestones”,
‘‘objectives’’, ‘‘outlook’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘probably’’, ‘‘project’’,
‘‘risks’’, “schedule”, ‘‘seek’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘target’’, ‘‘will’’
and similar terms and phrases. Examples of forward-looking
statements may include statements with respect to timing and
progress of Pharming's preclinical studies and clinical trials of
its product candidates, Pharming's clinical and commercial
prospects, and Pharming's expectations regarding its projected
working capital requirements and cash resources, which statements
are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions,
including, but not limited to the scope, progress and expansion of
Pharming's clinical trials and ramifications for the cost thereof;
and clinical, scientific, regulatory, commercial, competitive and
technical developments. In light of these risks and uncertainties,
and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Pharming's
2023 Annual Report and the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year
ended December 31, 2023, filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission, the events and circumstances discussed in such
forward-looking statements may not occur, and Pharming's actual
results could differ materially and adversely from those
anticipated or implied thereby. All forward-looking statements
contained in this press release are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in
this section. Readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements speak
only as of the date of this press release and are based on
information available to Pharming as of the date of this release.
Pharming does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or
revise any forward-looking statement as a result of new
information, future events or other information.
Inside InformationThis press
release relates to the disclosure of information that qualifies, or
may have qualified, as inside information within the meaning of
Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.
- Fabrice Chouraqui
- Pharming to nominate new Executive Director and Chief Executive
Officer_EN_21JAN25
Pharming Group NV (EU:PHARM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Dec 2024 to Jan 2025
Pharming Group NV (EU:PHARM)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jan 2024 to Jan 2025
