(GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Ablynx today announced the appointment of Johan Heylen as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr Heylen will assume responsibility for all Ablynx’s commercial activities. He has more than 20 years of experience in global biopharmaceutical sales, marketing and business development at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Servier and Wyeth.
Most recently, Mr Heylen was Executive Director, Global Commercial Lead, Cancer Immunotherapeutics, at GSK, where he headed the global commercial teams and was responsible for the development and implementation of the launch strategy for GSK’s cancer immunotherapeutics portfolio. Prior to that, Mr Heylen led and launched the successful global commercial and marketing efforts for three of GSK’s paediatric vaccines, Rotarix®, Priorix® and Varilix®, which together achieved sales of more than €1.5 billion. He has experience in a wide range of therapeutic fields.
Welcoming Mr Heylen to the team, Dr Edwin Moses, CEO of Ablynx, said:
“Johan joins Ablynx as Chief Commercial Officer at an important stage in our development as a biopharmaceutical company. His extensive commercial experience with some of the world’s leading companies will help Ablynx to maximise the potential of our pipeline as our programmes move through the clinic and towards the market. He will also bring valuable expertise to our business development team as we seek to develop our relationships with pharmaceutical companies around the world.”
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Heylen added:
“Ablynx has an extraordinary pipeline of products based on its unique Nanobody® discovery platform, validated by an impressive list of partners. I look forward to working with the first-class team to support the company as it moves to the next stage of development and begins to anticipate the commercialisation of the first Nanobody-based therapeutics.”
Source: Ablynx
