Arecor Therapeutics appoints new chief business officer

The AIM-traded firm said Dr Rahelu would bring more than 25 years of experience in strategic deal-making, commercial strategy, and financial expertise across global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

“I am delighted to welcome Manjit, who brings extensive experience nurturing the growth of companies and driving deals to commercial success,” said chief executive officer Sarah Howell.

“We continue to make significant progress across our in-house proprietary programmes, including our clinical stage diabetes products as well as our pharma collaborations and, with several important upcoming milestones, Manjit will play a key role in meeting our strategic goal to build a significant self-sustaining biopharmaceutical company.”

Arecor said Dr Rahelu's appointment was expected to play a key role in building and executing its commercialisation and growth plans, as it advanced its pipeline of proprietary and partnered products.

Before joining Arecor, Dr Rahelu served as a partner for Alcheme Advisors, where he supported early-stage businesses on various business development, strategy, and optimisation projects.

He also held the role of chief business officer and chief operating officer at Calchan, a UK biotechnology company focussed on developing novel molecules targeting pain and inflammation.

“Arecor has a clear business strategy and has built both a valuable in-house portfolio of proprietary product candidates and an impressive number of partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies - all powered by its novel platform technology,” said Dr Manjit Rahelu.

“I look forward to supporting the group's growth towards becoming a world leading and self-sustaining biopharmaceutical company.”

The board said Dr Rahelu's “extensive experience” in the life science sector included serving as vice-president of business development at Convergence Pharmaceuticals, where he helped shape the company's growth strategy and played a key role in commercialising chronic pain assets, culminating in the sale of Convergence to Biogen for £675m in 2015.

He also held positions with increasing responsibilities at a variety of life science companies, including Sanofi, Allergy Therapeutics, and UCB.

Dr Rahelu holds a BSc Hons in Biochemistry from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Birmingham.

At 1100 BST, shares in Arecor Therapeutics were flat at 260p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.