NMD Pharma Appoints Mike Heffernan as Chairman of Board of Directors

NMD Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biotech company developing first-in-class, small molecule ClC-1 inhibitors for neuromuscular disorders, today announces that Mike Heffernan has been appointed as Chairman of the Board. Mr. Heffernan succeeds Patrick Vink, who has served as NMD Pharma’s Chairman since 2015.

Mr. Heffernan is a successful entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience building development-stage and commercial biopharmaceutical companies. He is the CEO and Chairman of the US-based oncology company Avenge Bio, Inc. which he co-founded in 2019. Mr. Heffernan is also a board member of numerous public and private biotech companies including Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, Synlogic, Trevi Therapeutics, Collegium Pharmaceutical and K36 Therapeutics.

Mr. Heffernan has held numerous previous leadership positions during his career. Prior to co-founding Avenge Bio, he founded Collegium Pharmaceutical, Inc. a specialty pharmaceutical company in 2018 where he served as CEO and currently serves as Chairman. Other previous leadership positions include CEO of Onset Dermatologics, a commercial-stage dermatology company that he founded and spun out of Collegium to create PreCision Dermatology, which was acquired by Valeant in 2014. He also co-founded and served as CEO of Clinical Studies, a pharmaceutical contract research organization that was acquired by PhyMatrix Corp. in 1997. Mr. Heffernan began his career at Eli Lilly and Company where he served in numerous sales and marketing roles. He is a registered pharmacist and earned his B.Sc. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Connecticut.

Mike Heffernan, NMD Pharma’s new Chairman commented: “I feel very privileged to take on this role at such an exciting time for NMD Pharma. The recent positive data from its Phase I/IIa clinical trial of lead program NMD670 in patients with myasthenia gravis provided important clinical validation of ClC-1 inhibition to restore neuromuscular function substantially de-risking the business. I look forward to working closely with such a knowledgeable and experienced team to help build the business and drive shareholder value.”

Thomas Holm Pedersen, Chief Executive Officer of NMD Pharma, said: “Mike has a huge amount of experience which will be invaluable as NMD Pharma capitalizes on recent clinical success to build the business and develop ClC-1 inhibitors in new indications. I’d like to thank Patrick Vink for Chairing our Board over the last seven years during which time our business has transformed from an academic spin-out into an early clinical-stage company.”