Executive Shifts at Pluristem Therapeutics

Pluristem Therapeutics, Inc., located in Haifa, Israel, has announced two senior executive appointments. Yaky Yanay, president of Pluristem and former chief operating officer, joins current Chairman and CEO Zami Aberman as co-CEO and retains his title of president of the company.

According to the March 29, 2017 news release, “Yanay will no longer serve as the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Yanay joined Pluristem in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer and Secretary, before being promoted to Executive Vice President in 2013 and then to President and Chief Operating Officer in 2014. Previously, Yanay was the Chief Financial Officer of Elbit Vision Systems, Ltd.”

“In addition, Erez Egozi has been appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer of the company. Previously, Egozi served as the company’s Vice President of Finance and Secretary. Prior to joining Pluristem, Egozi held several senior financial positions at Verint Systems Inc. including senior director of finance-worldwide finance controller of Verint’s Communications and Cyber Intelligence Solutions division.”

Yaky Yanay told OTW, “I have had the great privilege to have worked at Pluristem for over 10 years, and during that time I have become deeply acquainted with the industry and its ecosystem. I enter this new role at a time of transition, as Pluristem evolves from conducting research and development to continuing with our R&D, but bringing our products to market as well. In the coming months, we intend to execute our clinical program through the expedited regulatory pathways in the U.S., Europe and Japan. This will include progressing in talks aimed at launching a joint venture with the Sosei Group, initiating the 75-patient pivotal clinical trial using PLX-PAD for CLI [critical limb ischemia] in Japan, and recruiting patients for our pivotal CLI trials in the U.S. and Europe.”

“In recent years, we have developed the technology and infrastructure that provides the company with a significant competitive advantage. We will leverage these important developments to transform the company into a global leader in the placental-cell therapy field. Our vision is to continue developing cell treatments which could help millions of people suffering from debilitating diseases.”

Erez Egozi commented to OTW, “This—2017—is a very important year for Pluristem as we look forward to data from our clinical trials and begin to focus on bringing our products to market. Over the last year, we received significant support from Europe, U.S. and Israel in the form of grant approvals. We were approved for an $8 million grant from the European Union for the CLI pivotal trial, a grant of $3 million from the Israel Innovation Authority and additional funding of $1 million from the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial R&D Foundation. We intend on utilizing additional grants and other non-dilutive instruments to further support our clinical program.”

“The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding and conducting advanced clinical trials of Pluristem’s PLX-R18 cell therapy products that can be stockpiled by governments and easily administered to citizens following a nuclear disaster, with the aim of counteracting the effects of Advanced Radiation Syndrome resulting from exposure to nuclear radiation. We look forward to the results of these trials and to continue our discussions with the U.S. government to stockpile and further develop the PLX-R18 product.”

“In addition, we are seeing increased interest from potential strategic partners across the globe, so this year is expected to be an important one in making progress in strategic transactions.”