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14/10/2020 - Press release

Dr. Scott Boyer joins Chemotargets as new CEO

Chemotargets is the spin-off from IMIM founded in 2006 by Dr. Jordi Mestres

Chemotargets, a global leader in predictive analytics solutions for the pharma and biotech sector, has appointed Dr. Scott Boyer as new CEO with the aim to consolidate its transition from a software business to a key player in the biotech sector. Dr Boyer joins Chemotargets from Swedish drug development company Klaria, where he has been CEO/CSO since 2015 and will continue as a member of the Board of Directors and as a scientific advisor. Prior to joining Klaria, he was Chief Scientist at AstraZeneca (Sweden), with global responsibility for molecular and investigational toxicology across the company, and a member of the company's senior management team.  Prior to AstraZeneca, Dr. Boyer was a senior scientist at Pfizer Central Research in the US.

Scott Boyer has a PhD in Molecular Toxicology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and he completed an NIH Fogarty International Center Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He takes over from Dr. Jordi Mestres, who becomes Chief Scientific Officer and will maintain his position as President of the Board.

"I have known Jordi Mestres for a long time, and I have always admired Chemotargets for being one of those companies that did things correctly. Its focus on data quality combined with sensible and appropriate applications of artificial intelligence/machine learning has put Chemotargets as the number one platform in the world in its field. In this new stage as a biotech company, a new universe of possibilities is opening up to us in the development of new drugs", said the new CEO. Boyer, who brings to the company an extended experience in computation applied to drug discovery and development, is looking forward to "apply artificial intelligence/machine learning techniques along with computationally-supported pharmacodynamic analysis to every aspect of drug discovery and development, especially safety. There are not many companies, if any, that can do this. We have the tools, the data sets and we know which technologies can be applied to the different types of problems."

Jordi Mestres said: "Scott Boyer is one of the most authoritative individuals in our field and it is a privilege to have him as the new CEO of Chemotargets. His appointment comes naturally after the recent announcement of the company to transition from a software business to a biotech with its own drug discovery pipeline". Dr Mestres has been Chemotargets' CEO since its foundation as a spin-off from the Barcelona's Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) in 2006.

Dr. Boyer's short-term goals include closing the Series A funding round opened in July with the aim of expanding Chemotarget's activity. Dr. Boyer will also build strategic alliances with partners in the biotech and pharmaceutical sector to consolidate the company as a key player in the global 'AI-driven' biotech market.

Chemotargets presently has developed a full suite of unique AI-based tools to identify, optimize and ensure the optimal safety profile of new drug candidates.  The application of these tools, in concert, ensures rapid identification of proprietary molecules capable of addressing significant unmet medical needs.  One of the most relevant examples of the innnovations within Chemotargets is its safety profiling software CLARITY^?.  A CLARITY^? software license was acquired this year by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  CLARITY^? is a technology that defines the efficacy and safety profiles of new drugs and in addition to the US FDA, has been licensed by a large number of pharmaceutical companies ranging from small biotechs to large international organizations.

Genesis Biomed, a well-established consultancy firm in the health and biotech sectors, and CREA Inversión, an M&A boutique advisory firm specialised in corporate transactions and financing, are advising Chemotargets in the transformation of the company.

About Chemotargets

Chemotargets was founded in March 2006 as a spin-off from Dr. Mestres' Research Group on Systems Pharmacology under the auspices of the IMIM Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute, a leading academic center of excellence based in Barcelona. With its offices at the Parc Científic de Barcelona, Chemotargets offers validated and cutting-edge computational methodologies with top market predictive performance. The innovation strategy of the company is driven by the continuous research and development of new methods. Since May 2017, Prous Institute for Biomedical Research has made a strategic investment in Chemotargets SL  which has allowed CLARITY^? product development to be accelerated and new capabilities to be acquired in order to support the company's vision and quickly address customers' needs. CLARITY® is currently used worldwide by more than 20 top pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions and non-for-profit organizations, such as the FDA.

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