InDex Pharmaceuticals Expands Management Team
InDex Pharmaceuticals Names Pernilla Sandwall Head of Clinical Operations and Thomas Knittel Chief Medical Officer
Stockholm, April 11, 2012 – InDex Pharmaceuticals today announced two additions to its management team: Pernilla Sandwall has been appointed as Head of Clinical Operations and Thomas Knittel as Chief Medical Officer. Pernilla Sandwall will lead the company’s clinical development team, with the main focus being the ongoing phase III clinical trial of Kappaproct in patients with treatment-refractory ulcerative colitis. Thomas Knittel will serve as the company’s lead medical expert and provide leadership in medical and marketing affairs.
Pernilla Sandwall has more than 20 years of experience in clinical research operations. She joins InDex Pharmaceuticals from Merck & Co. Inc. (MSD), where she has worked both in the Swedish subsidiary and the U.S. headquarters, as well as regionally in Europe. She has experience in the field as CRA and project manager, as well as strategically as Clinical Research Manager. Her focus over the last years has been global patient recruitment, site selection strategies and execution. She also has experience in change management and Lean Six Sigma methodology. She has a Master of Science in Pharmacy from Uppsala University.
Thomas Knittel has over 15 years of clinical experience within gastroenterology as well as 13 years of experience in medical affairs and marketing management. Before joining InDex Pharmaceuticals, he held positions as Business Unit Director and Director of Sales and Marketing at Novo Nordisk for central Europe, as General Manager Pharmaceuticals at Harlan Laboratories, and as Vice President Corporate and Medical Affairs at Develogen AG. He has a Medical degree from the University of Mainz with a specialist training in internal medicine and gastroenterology. He is an Associate Professor in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at the University Clinic Goettingen. In addition, he has an MBA from Kellogg School of Management/WHU.
“We are very happy to welcome Pernilla and Thomas to our management team in this exciting time for InDex Pharmaceuticals,” said Jesper Wiklund, CEO of InDex Pharmaceuticals. “We are running a phase III development program with Kappaproct, our first-in-class treatment candidate for chronic, active treatment-refractory ulcerative colitis. With their high level of competence in gastroenterology, medical affairs and clinical operations as well as their strong leadership qualities we are optimally equipped to realize our goal of bringing Kappaproct through phase III and towards the market.”
About InDex Pharmaceuticals
InDex Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the discovery and development of immunology-based treatments exclusively addressing disease states with a high unmet medical need. InDex Pharmaceuticals is also dedicated to personalized medicine and is developing companion diagnostics that will allow for the selection of only those patients likely to respond to a treatment.
Kappaproct, the lead product candidate of InDex, is currently in a phase III study as a treatment for chronic active, treatment refractory ulcerative colitis. In 2009, InDex Pharmaceuticals launched the diagnostic test DiBiCol in Sweden. DiBiCol differentiates between ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, the two major forms of inflammatory bowel disease.
InDex Pharmaceuticals was founded in 2000 and is located in Stockholm, Sweden.
For additional information about InDex Pharmaceuticals please visit www.indexpharma.com.
Contact InDex Pharmaceuticals:
Jesper Wiklund, CEO
Tel: +46 8 508 847 35/ +46 (0)733 59 05 53
jesper.wiklund@indexpharma.com
Media Inquiries:
akampion
Dr. Ludger Wess or Ines-Regina Buth
Tel.: +49 (0)40 88 16 59 64 / +49 (0)30 2363 2768
info@akampion.com