LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Feb. 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AC Immune SA (NASDAQ: ACIU), a Swiss-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a broad pipeline focused on neurodegenerative diseases, today announced two new appointments to its Executive Committee to accelerate the advancement of its multiple therapeutic candidates through preclinical and clinical development, thereby expanding and diversifying its pipeline.

Piergiorgio Donati joins the Executive Committee and is promoted to Head of Technical Operations and Program Management from his previous role as Director, Global Program Management at AC Immune. Sonia Poli is promoted to the Executive Committee as Head of Translational Science. Sonia joined AC Immune in 2018 from her previous role as Chief Scientific Officer at Addex Therapeutics.

Prof. Andrea Pfeifer, CEO of AC Immune SA, commented: “It is with great pleasure that we welcome Sonia and Piergiorgio to the AC Immune leadership team. These new roles allow us to increase the impact of our key staff and optimize our development capabilities as we continue to translate the most promising new scientific discoveries into effective therapies for the treatment of  neurodegenerative diseases.”

Prof. Pfeifer added, “Piergiorgio’s focus will be on manufacturing and program coordination in order to accelerate the transition of our preclinical and clinical assets to late stage development. Sonia will guide the seamless transition from early-stage discovery to preclinical development programs to further enhance the value of our pipeline.”

About Piergiorgio Donati
Piergiorgio Donati joined AC Immune in June 2018 as Director, Global Program Management, having previously worked for AC Immune from 2011-2015 as Head of Manufacturing and Project Management.  With this promotion, Piergiorgio is now Head of Technical Operations and Program Management. Between 2015 and 2018, Piergiorgio was Head of CMC program development at Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and Biotech CMC Lead at Merck Group. Prior to 2011, he held R&D positions at Abiogen, Merck Group and Serono. Mr. Donati holds a degree in Chemistry from the Technical Institute G.L. Bernini.

About Sonia Poli
Sonia joined AC Immune from Addex Therapeutics, where she worked for 13 years, and was promoted to Chief Scientific Officer. Prior to Addex she spent seven years at Roche, most recently as Senior Scientist in the CNS discovery Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics group. Sonia holds a PhD in Industrial Chemistry from Università degli Studi di Milano. Dr. Poli is also a member of the Board of Directors of Dimerix Bioscience.

About AC Immune SA
AC Immune SA is a Nasdaq-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, which aims to become a global leader in precision medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases. The Company designs, discovers and develops therapeutic as well as diagnostic products intended to prevent and modify diseases caused by misfolding proteins. AC Immune’s two proprietary technology platforms create antibodies, small molecules and vaccines designed to address a broad spectrum of neurodegenerative indications, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The Company’s pipeline features nine therapeutic and three diagnostic product candidates – with five product candidates currently in clinical trials. The most advanced of these is crenezumab, a humanized anti-beta-amyloid monoclonal IgG4 antibody that targets monomeric and aggregated forms of beta-amyloid, with highest affinity for neurotoxic oligomers. Crenezumab is currently in a pivotal clinical study for AD prevention and is licensed to Roche/Genentech. Other collaborations include Lilly, Biogen, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences, Life Molecular Imaging (formerly Piramal Imaging) and Essex Bio-Technology.

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