Sernova Announces the Appointment of Daniel Mahony, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors

- Successful biopharma entrepreneur with 25 years of experience growing leading healthcare firms -

LONDON, Ontario, Sept. 07, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sernova Corp. (TSX:SVA) (OTCQB:SEOVF) (FSE/XETRA:PSH), a clinical-stage company and leader in regenerative medicine cell therapeutics, today announced the appointment of Daniel Mahony, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors, effective September 30th, 2022. Dr. Mahony is Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Evotec and is also responsible for managing Evotec’s equity investment portfolio.

Dr. Mahony brings over 25 years of global healthcare investment, management and research experience covering biotechnology, medical technology, and healthcare service sectors. Prior to joining Evotec, he served as the Co-head of Healthcare at Polar Capital where he launched the firm’s healthcare investment business in 2007 and grew it to over $4 billion of assets under management. Prior to Polar Capital, he was head of European healthcare research at Morgan Stanley, an analyst at ING Barings Furman Selz in New York, and a postdoctoral research scientist at DNAX Research Institute in California.

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Mahony to Sernova’s Board of Directors,” said Frank Holler, Executive Chair of Sernova. “Dan has a unique background, starting as a research scientist, then moving into healthcare research and capital markets and finally into the pharmaceutical industry. This background gives him deep insights into the healthcare business and capital markets which will be very valuable for Sernova.”

Dr. Mahony stated, “Sernova is uniquely well positioned with its Cell Pouch System to become a leading player in regenerative medicine. I am thrilled to be joining its Board of Directors and look forward to working with the other directors and the management team to advance potential ‘functional cures’ for some of the most challenging chronic diseases.”

Dr. Mahony holds multiple industry leadership positions. He currently chairs the board of the BioIndustry Association (BIA), the industry trade association for UK life sciences, and holds non-executive directorships at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Trellus Health, Celmatix, Keepabl, and Apian. Dr. Mahony also acts as a mentor for the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur Training Programme, which supports junior doctors and healthcare professionals in developing entrepreneurial aspirations during their clinical training. Dr. Mahony was awarded a first-class, honours degree in biochemistry from Oxford University and received his doctorate degree from Cambridge University. Dr. Mahony will replace Dr. Dohrmann as Evotec’s representative on the Sernova board.

ABOUT SERNOVA CORP. AND THE CELL POUCH SYSTEM PLATFORM FOR CELL THERAPY

Sernova Corp. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that is developing regenerative medicine therapeutic technologies for chronic diseases, including diabetes, thyroid disease, and blood disorders including hemophilia A. Sernova is currently focused on developing a ‘functional cure’ for diabetes with its regenerative cell therapy platform technologies, including its proprietary Cell Pouch™. On implantation, the Cell Pouch forms a natural vascularized tissue environment in the body for long-term survival and function of therapeutic cells that release necessary proteins or factors missing from the body to treat chronic diseases. Sernova’s Cell Pouch System has already shown it can potentially provide a ‘functional cure’ to people with type 1 diabetes in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical study at the University of Chicago. Sernova is also advancing its proprietary conformal coating technology in collaboration with the University of Miami to cloak the therapeutic cells from the immune system attack with the goal to eliminate the need for chronic immunosuppressives. In May 2022, Sernova and Evotec entered into a global strategic collaboration to develop an implantable off-the-shelf iPSC-based (induced pluripotent stem cells) beta cell replacement therapy. This collaboration potentially provides Sernova an unlimited supply of insulin-producing cells to treat millions of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes (type 1 and type 2). Sernova is also gearing up to be in the clinic in two additional programs that utilize its Cell Pouch System – an implantable cell therapy for benign thyroid disease resulting from thyroid gland removal and an ex-vivo lentiviral factor VIII gene therapy for hemophilia A.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Corporate:

Christopher Barnes

VP, Investor Relations

Sernova Corp.



Tel: 519-902-7923

Investors:

Corey Davis, Ph.D.

LifeSci Advisors, LLC



Tel: 212-915-2577

Media:

Elizabeth Miller, M.D.

LifeSci Communications



Tel: 646-791-9705