More capital and a stronger board for Viroblock

Viroblock has announced that David Frederick, Winfried Mayer and Erich Platzer have joined Peter Pfister and Gian-Luigi Berini on its Board of Directors. Peter Pfister, Chairman of Viroblock S.A. said “The addition of these outstanding individuals to the Board reflects the change in priority from Research & Development to industrialising and commercialising the first anti-viral mask and further anti-viral filtration products. Not only does the Board bring a vast array of diversified knowledge and experience to the table, but also an impressive international network. I am convinced that with the new Board, together with our strong management team, Viroblock is well positioned to tackle the challenges of the future.”

 

David Frederick has been in the healthcare industry for 17 years taking on positions of increased responsibility in sales, marketing and general management. He has managed direct sales & marketing teams as well as distributors throughout Europe. As VP of Sales EMEA at Coviden (formerly Tyco Healthcare) Mr. Frederick gained extensive experience in developing brand strategies and launching new products in the area of medical devices and medical consumables. After moving from Coviden, he began starting a new company for the distribution of surgical instruments.

 

Winfried Mayer has more than 30 years of experience in manufacturing pharmaceutical products. He has implemented global standards in quality control and assurance as well as compliances to all major international health authorities including US FDA, EU EMA and Japan MHLW. Mr. Mayer has in-depth experience in managing contract manufacturing activities in Europe, Africa, Latin America and extensively in Asia-Pacific (including Japan and China). He is currently Head of Chugai Collaborations Japan, Global Pharma Technical Operations at Roche.

 

Erich Platzer is an MD with over 12 years in academic medicine and research as well as more than 10 years of experience in product development and marketing. As former head of oncology strategic marketing at Roche he was responsible for various strategic corporate partnerships. Mr. Platzer is currently Investment Advisor at HBM Partners, a leading Swiss venture capitalist. In this capacity he serves on several boards of life science companies. He is also a board member of StartAngels Network, a leading Swiss Business Angel platform.

Viroblock also announced a second and final closing of the Series C financing round, which initially closed in October 2011. With the additional investment of CHF 750,000 from a small group of angel investors, the C round was filled to the targeted maximum of CHF 4 million.

 

Jamie Paterson, CEO of Viroblock, welcomed this news and said “The additional financing will help to speed up the production and launch of our anti-viral face mask. We are currently scaling up the production of our anti-viral technology and expect to enter the market with our anti-viral face mask in late 2012 or early 2013.”

 

Viroblock S.A. is a Swiss-based company focused on developing a novel anti-viral technology that is both rapid acting and broad spectrum. Applied to non-woven fabric, the technology is particularly suitable for air filtration products. In fact, previous work has shown Viroblock fabric to kill over 99.9% of H5N1 (bird flu) viruses when challenged in standardised aerobiology experiments. Unlike other face masks the Viroblock mask can kill enveloped viruses, such as H1N1, H5N1 and SARS, on pass through air.