TOPIGEN Pharmaceuticals Inc. (TOPIGEN) has appointed Robert Boisjoli as its chief financial officer (CFO). Boisjoli has more than 20 years of experience in both corporate and investment banking roles within the life sciences and significant experience in business valuation and corporate development. The company has appointed Marianne Mann to its clinical advisory board and Elizabeth Vadas to its research advisory board.
Robert brings to TOPIGEN extensive and diverse financial and operational management experience,” said Mark Parry-Billings, chief executive officer of TOPIGEN. “He will play a pivotal role in the Company as we advance our pipeline of innovative therapeutics for respiratory diseases. His appointment completes the new management team at TOPIGEN and provides a significant financial track record in U.S. biotech to supplement the existing expertise in our business in respiratory product development and successful licensing in the key North American territory.”
Boisjoli most recently served as CFO and co-founder of Xanthus Pharmaceuticals Inc, a Boston-based biotechnology company, where he was responsible for all financial business and operations and was instrumental in the acquisition of Xanthus by Antisoma, PLC in June 2008. Prior to this, he was head of Investment Banking in Quebec for various Canadian securities firms, where most of his activities involved raising equity for emerging companies in the biotech and information technology fields. He was also instrumental in setting up a mutual fund primarily involving smaller capitalization technology firms and was involved in strategic mergers and acquisitions. He serves on the board of various companies and professional organizations. Boisjoli is a chartered accountant and chartered business valuator and holds a bachelor of commerce degree and a graduate diploma in accountancy from Concordia University.
TOPIGEN board member Jeremy Curnock Cook added, “TOPIGEN has been able to attract and secure an international management team to lead the company based on the strengths of the Company’s product portfolio and proprietary oligonucleotide technology. Dr. Mark Parry-Billings brings significant expertise in effective respiratory product development, Dr. Lisa Nolan has led a number of successful and substantial respiratory licensing deals for both U.S. based and international companies and Robert Boisjoli has just completed the sale of Boston-based Xanthus to United Kingdom-based Antisoma. This is truly a focused and expert international team.”
Marianne Mann is a former deputy director of the food and drug administration division of Pulmonary and Allergy Drug Products.
Vadas was previously executive director of pharmaceutical research and development at Merck.
Parry-Billings added, “We are delighted to welcome these high-level new appointments to our scientific advisory boards. They add to an already esteemed group of individuals and will provide significant additional capabilities and strengths in the areas of regulatory strategy and pharmaceutical product development.”