Phagenesis appoints Chairman and CEO

Phagenesis Limited, a leader in technology for the treatment of stroke patients, has appointed Henry Hyde-Thomson as Chairman and Daniel Green as Chief Executive Officer. Both bring a wealth of experience in growing young companies to the University of Manchester spinout. They will lead Phagenesis in the development of a new class of treatments for stroke victims suffering from dysphagia, a common condition that prevents or impairs the safe swallowing of food and drink.

Phagenesis’ technology is a device that delivers electrical pulses to the throat region that can “awaken” the brain to help restore swallowing function. At least 50% of stroke victims have impaired swallowing. Apart from a severe reduction in quality of life, dysphagia often leads to the inhalation of liquids and the development of life-threatening pneumonia. In addition, the financial burden of dysphagia runs into thousands of pounds per patient in the first few weeks alone, and may continue indefinitely if the patients’ swallowing is not restored.

Daniel Green, formerly CEO of Repregen Ltd, said: “Phagenesis has a technology that had already shown its value in patients for whom there is no effective pharmaceutical or medical device treatment. Our challenge is to bring this technology to the benefit of patients and health services everywhere.” Daniel co-founded Repregen as an Imperial College spinout in 2006. Before that, was a venture capital investor at HBM Partners in Zurich, Switzerland, Dresdner Kleinwort, in London, UK, and MVM, also London, UK.

Henry Hyde-Thomson, Chairman of AngloScientific said: “This is an exciting time for Phagenesis as the company commercialises the results of 15 years development by the company’s scientific founder, Dr Shaheen Hamdy.” Henry is chairman of 21Net, Phasor Solutions and MMIC Solutions, and was previously founder and chairman of Speech Machines, acquired by Philips in 2001.

Dr Conor Mulrooney COO and Phagenesis co-founder said: “We are fortunate to secure the skills and experience of Daniel and Henry and are now well positioned to bring our first products to market.” Conor founded Phagenesis in 2007 with Dr Shaheen Hamdy, the inventor of the technology.