Coulter Partners places Chair and two Non-Executive Directors with extensive industry experience at Diurnal Group plc

Anders Härfstrand joins the Board as Non-Executive Chair, and Deborah Jorn and Jean-Michel Cosséry join the Board as Non-Executive Directors, respectively, all with immediate effect.

Following the appointment of Anders Härfstrand as Non-Executive Chair, Sam Williams, who has held the role of Interim Chair since March 2020, will resume his role as a Non-Executive Director of Diurnal and Board representative of IP Group plc.

Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer of Diurnal, commented:
“We are excited to be welcoming three very experienced new members to our Board with significant expertise from across the pharmaceutical industry, particularly in building commercial operations, as we continue to grow our international presence through our approved products for cortisol deficiency. On behalf of the Board, we would like to thank Sam Williams for his considerable contribution as Interim Chair since March 2020, during which time the Company has achieved a number of significant value inflection points with its two lead products, and we are pleased that he will continue on the Board as a Non-Executive Director. We look forward to drawing on the strengthened Board experience as we continue to focus on our vision of becoming a world-leading specialty endocrinology company. We also thank Coulter Partners for their outstanding support and professionalism in securing these appointments.”

Anders Härfstrand, Non-Executive Chair of Diurnal, commented:
“I am delighted to join the Board of Diurnal at an exciting time in the Company’s evolution and to build upon the rich and successful history it has in developing endocrine products addressing important clinical needs. Through this clinical expertise, Diurnal has established a solid commercial foundation and Deborah, Jean-Michel and I are looking forward to working with the Board and the senior management team as we seek to advance Diurnal’s global growth ambitions.”

Following today’s appointments, the Diurnal Board will comprise of nine directors, four of whom including the Chair are Independent Non-Executive Directors (Anders Härfstrand, Deborah Jorn, Jean-Michel Cosséry and John Goddard), two Non-Executive Directors (Sam Williams and Alan Raymond) and three Executive Directors (Martin Whitaker as Chief Executive Officer, Richard Bungay as Chief Financial Officer and Richard Ross as Chief Scientific Officer).

Anders Härfstrand
Anders is a leader in the pharmaceutical industry with over 30 years’ experience and a sustained global track record of success in commercial operations, global marketing management and product development. He has significant executive leadership experience and has successfully built franchises in multiple therapeutic categories across the US, Japan, and the European Union. As the former Global Head of Endocrine franchises at Pharmacia, Pfizer and Serono, Anders has considerable endocrinology experience. Anders has also held several Chief Executive Officer positions, including Humabs Biomed, Adama Agro, BBB Therapeutics, and Nitec Pharma during its merger with US based pharmaceutical company, Horizon. In addition, Anders has substantial board experience across international private and public companies, including Nasdaq-listed Prothena. Prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry in 1988, Anders spent nine years lecturing at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden, where he earned his MD and PhD in neuropharmacology endocrinology.

Deborah Jorn
Deborah is a senior commercial executive with more than 30 years of experience of successfully building US and global pharmaceutical businesses through designing and implementing innovative marketing strategies across numerous therapeutic areas, including rare diseases. Most recently, Deborah served as EVP of Corporate and Commercial Development at Eyepoint Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, Deborah was EVP and Group Company Chair at Bausch Health (formerly Valeant Pharma) where she led the dermatology and gastroenterology businesses. She was Chief Global Marketing Officer at Bausch & Lomb, prior to its acquisition by Bausch Health, and led the successful launch of several new products and the integration of Ista Pharmaceuticals following its acquisition. Previously, she was Group Vice President of Women’s Healthcare and Fertility and Allergy and Respiratory at Schering Plough Corporation. Deborah serves on the board of directors of Viveve Medical and Pharming Group. Deborah holds a BA in Biochemistry from Rutgers University in Biochemistry, and an MBA from New York University.

Jean-Michel Cosséry
Jean-Michel brings over 25 years of global leadership experience as a senior healthcare executive in research, marketing and commercial roles across the pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech sectors. He recently held the position of Non-Executive Director of Kymab before it was acquired by Sanofi in April 2021, and was also Non-Executive Director of Immunocore until its successful Nasdaq IPO in January 2021. Jean-Michel is currently Non-Executive Director at Malin and Exact Therapeutics. In addition, Jean-Michel has held senior leadership roles in marketing, science and general management for leading pharmaceutical companies, including Eli-Lilly as Vice-President, North American Oncology, as well as Managing Director Northern Europe, and GE Healthcare as the Chief Marketing Officer and Vice-President Global Marketing. He has also been Chair of The American Pharmaceutical Group in the UK, as well as a board member of the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry. Jean-Michel holds an MBA from the Rotterdam School of Management (Erasmus University), The Netherlands, as well as a PharmD and a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry and Neurobiology from University Paris, France.

About Diurnal Group plc
Diurnal Group plc is a European, UK-headquartered, specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing hormone therapeutics to aid lifelong treatment for rare and chronic endocrine conditions, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia, adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadism and hypothyroidism. Its expertise and innovative research activities focus on circadian-based endocrinology to yield novel product candidates in the rare and chronic endocrine disease arena.

For further information about Diurnal, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk