ABCODIA WELCOMES DR ANDY RICHARDS AS CHAIRMAN OF ITS BOARD

Abcodia is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Andy Richards as its Chairman. Dr Richards is a well known bioscience entrepreneur and business angel with considerable expertise in the biotechnology and healthcare industries.

Abcodia is a newly formed company engaged in the validation and discovery of molecular biomarkers for disease diagnosis and screening. Through rights to commercialise IP from one of the largest biobanks in the UK and with its network of technology, commercial and academic partners, Abcodia aims to make groundbreaking discoveries and improve the diagnosis of many common life threatening diseases, including the major cancers - colon, lung, pancreatic - as well as other conditions such as diabetes, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr Richards has a track record in the formation, growth and exit of several successful and innovative Healthcare companies including Chiroscience, Arakis, Cambridge Biotechnology, Altacor and Vectura. He is respected for his ability to transform companies from science based start ups to commercial ventures and for his wide experience of commercialisation partnerships, M&A transactions and private and public market financings. Dr Richards holds several non-executive director positions in this field, including Cancer Research Technology, Babraham Bioscience Technology, Vectura group plc, Ixico, Novacta and Altacor.

Dr Richards will work with Abcodia to support its financing and help develop new partnerships with diagnostic, technology and biopharmaceutical companies as well as not for profit research organisations that can realise the potential of Abcodia’s vision and business objectives.

Julie Barnes, Abcodia’s CEO said: “I am delighted that that Andy has been appointed Chairman. His experience and deep understanding of the healthcare industry along with his network will be a real asset for the company as it closes further finance that allows it to invest in the growth and evolution of the business.”

Dr Richards commented: “Abcodia is an exciting company with a valuable biobank resource and an innovative business model in the emerging biomarker value chain. It has the potential to make life changing advances to the molecular diagnostics arena and will forge many interesting partnerships that should further biomarker discovery, validation and development. Dr Julie Barnes, Chris Hodkinson and Prof Ian Jacobs, the founding team at Abcodia, have done a great job in creating this business opportunity with the support and advice from 4D-Biomedical Ltd and UCLB. I am very much looking forward to working with the team to make Abcodia a commercial success.”

*A photo of Dr Richards is available on request.

ABOUT ABCODIA

Abcodia is an innovative company engaged in the validation and discovery of molecular biomarkers. With its unique longitudinal serum biobank and partnerships with UCL, technology platform providers and leading commercial diagnostic companies, Abcodia is able to support the whole diagnostic discovery process.
Its Chief Executive, Julie Barnes and Operations Officer, Chris Hodkinson have over 45 years experience within the Life Science R&D and Biotechnology industry. Their mix of scientific, commercial and operational experience in industry together with strong academic links with UCL and other major universities brings a strong understanding of what is required to successfully lead Abcodia as an ethical and collaborative organisation.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES

Please contact Press Officer, Ellee Seymour on 07939 811961 or by email info@abcodia.com