Christer Ahlberg will assume the position during the summer of 2021, thereby replacing the company’s current CEO and co-founder Kjell Andersson, who becomes Chief Scientific Officer.

” We are delighted in having recruited Christer Ahlberg to Cinclus Pharma” said Lennart Hansson, Chairman of the Board for Cinclus Pharma. "The very relevant experience Christer brings when it comes to both building successful organizations and commercializing pharmaceuticals is highly valued at this stage of our Company development.", he continued.

Christer Ahlberg started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1995 as a sales representative for Astra, later AstraZeneca, where he among other things participated in the launch of Nexium. Following AstraZeneca, he was responsible for the build-up of Meda´s sales and marketing organization and established Eisai´s Nordic business as CEO and expanded the strategic scope of Unimedic, a Swedish specialty pharma company within the MedCap group. Christer Ahlberg joins from Sedana Medical where he has been CEO since 2017 and has been fundamental in the build-up of the organization, commercialization, regulatory approvals, and IPO, respectively.

” It is with great enthusiasm I assume the CEO position for Cinclus Pharma stated Christer.” X842 is a very exciting product candidate with great potential. I am also looking forward to leading the expansion and development of the company with our stakeholders while working for an efficient path to market approval for X842”. He continued “and it will be exciting to continue the strong Swedish tradition within the field of gastroenterology.”

Cinclus Pharma is developing X842, a clinical-stage drug candidate for the treatment of severe gastroesophageal reflux disease.  X842 has the potential to alleviate GERD symptoms and heal esophageal erosions more effectively than current available pharmaceutical therapies, proton pump inhibitors (PPI). A clinical phase II study is currently being prepared for initiation.

GERD is a common medical condition characterized by regurgitation of gastric content into the esophagus. This can lead to severe pain and mucosal erosions. More than 35 percent of patients who suffer from severe esophageal erosions (grade C and D esophagitis) are not healed despite treatment with healing dosage of PPIs.

Cinclus Pharma’s drug candidate X842 represents a novel class of pharmaceuticals (Potassium Competitive Acid Blockers, P-CAB), which utilizes a different mode of action to modulate and control the release of gastric acid, as compared to PPIs.

For additional information, please contact
Kjell Andersson, CEO and co-founder
Phone: +46 733 337 906
Email: kjell@cincluspharma.com

Andrew Thompson, Business Development
Phone: +44 7990 639371
Email: andrew@cincluspharma.com

About Cinclus Pharma

Cinclus Pharma develops small molecules for the treatment of gastric acid related diseases. Its lead candidate, X842, has successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial. X842 represents a novel class of drugs, Potassium Competitive Acid Blocker (P-CAB), and is a fast-acting regulator of intragastric pH by a different mechanism of action than PPIs. X842 is firstly being developed for treatment of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and is being prepared for a clinical phase II study. X842 has the potential to alleviate GERD symptoms and heal esophageal injuries more effectively than current pharmaceutical therapies. Company management has extensive experience from the pharmaceutical industry with special focus on the GI pharmaceutical area with experience from AstraZeneca and Novartis. For more information www.cincluspharma.com

About GERD
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a digestive disease that affects the lower esophageal sphincter (LES), the ring of muscle between the esophagus and stomach, causing retrograde flow of gastric content into the esophagus. This leads to erosions, acid regurgitations and heart burn. About 175 million people of the adult population in North America and Europe suffer from reflux disease. The global acid reflux market – worth USD 12-14bn - is dominated by proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs). On average 5-10% of eGERD Grades A and B and approximately 30% of patients with eGERD Grades C and D are unhealed after eight weeks on PPIs, and 78% of all GERD patients experience nocturnal symptoms despite PPIs - resulting in quality-of-life issues. More than 20% of all GERD patients take PPIs twice daily to overcome the incomplete symptom relief or supplement their treatment with over the counter-remedies. Despite frequent off-label prescription of high dosage PPIs, many patients still suffer from poor symptom control indicating a clear need for better drugs to treat severe GERD.

About X842
X842 represents a novel class of drugs, Potassium Competitive Acid Blocker (P-CAB), and is a fast-acting regulator of intragastric pH by a different mechanism of action than PPIs. X842 belongs to the P-CAB class that competitively inhibits the H+, K+-ATPase in the parietal cell and thereby controls gastric acid secretion. X842 is a prodrug of linaprazan, with comprehensive data from 25 clinical Phase I studies including more than 600 subjects. Furthermore, two clinical Phase II studies including 2,973 patients showed that linaprazan was well tolerated, with a fast onset of action and full effect at first dose. However, linaprazan was quickly eliminated from the body and had too short duration of acid inhibition. In comparison, X842 has a longer half-life in the body, shows total control of the gastric acid production, and is tailored for patients with severe eGERD.