Manchester-based drug discovery company C4X Discovery Holdings plc announced that Eva-Lotta Allan will step down as chair after five years of service with immediate effect.
The firm said Clive Dix will simultaneously become interim executive chair and a search will commence to find a new CEO.
Dix, who has held a variety of leadership roles at C4XD over the past nine years, will be interim executive chair until a new CEO is appointed in order to ensure a smooth transition, after which point it is expected that he will assume a non-executive board role.
“Eva-Lotta became chair in July 2018 and steps down now to focus on her portfolio of other board director roles,” said the firm.
“The search will now be initiated to recruit a new CEO of C4XD, ideally with strong leadership skills, an international network and IR experience in global public markets, and a track record of building a company with products that have entered clinical development.”
Dix said: “I would like to thank Eva-Lotta, both personally and on behalf of the Board for her guidance and support over the past five years as, together, we have built C4XD into a strong company with an established reputation for drug discovery expertise.
“The business is one I feel extremely confident and passionate about and I look forward to working with the board to find a suitable CEO successor to continue to drive our new strategy forward with the focus in immuno-inflammatory diseases.”
Eva-Lotta Allan said: “Over the past five years we have built a commercially attractive pipeline and executed several value-creating deals for C4XD programmes with leading pharmacompanies and, after five years, I now feel it is the right time to hand the reigns to Clive as interim executive chair.
“A smooth succession plan will allow us to bring in a new CEO with the right experience to take the company to its next stage, thereby ensuring that C4XD continues to deliver on its vision, strategy and, most importantly new therapies to improve the lives of patients with immuno-inflammatory diseases.
“I have enjoyed working with the CX4D team and the board and wish everyone at C4XD well.”