5th Mar 2020 16:41
5 March 2020
Diurnal Group plc
("Diurnal" or the "Company")
Directorate Change
Diurnal Group plc (AIM: DNL), the specialty pharmaceutical company targeting patient needs in chronic endocrine (hormonal) diseases, announces that Peter Allen has informed the Board of his intention to step down as Chairman and a member of the Board effective 30 June 2020 after serving five years with the Company.
Sam Williams, Non-Executive Director of Diurnal and Board representative of IP Group plc, will become Interim Chairman following Peter Allen's departure. Sam has over 20 years' experience in the biotechnology industry, both as a top-ranked equity analyst in the City and, subsequently, as an investor and chief executive. Sam has been on the Board of Diurnal since 2015 and held the role of Interim Chairman prior to the appointment of Peter Allen.
The Board will initiate a search for a permanent successor and a further announcement will be made in due course.
Martin Whitaker, CEO of Diurnal, commented:
"On behalf of Diurnal, I would like to thank Peter for his considerable contribution to the Company during the past five years. His extensive experience and wise counsel have been invaluable. With his stewardship, the Company has been transformed from a university spinout into a Public company with a strong European commercial organisation, its first drug on the market and a focused development pipeline. Peter leaves Diurnal well positioned to achieve its vision of becoming a world-leading specialty endocrinology company and we wish him the very best for the future."
Peter Allen, Chairman of Diurnal, added:
"It has been a privilege to be part of Diurnal over the past five years. The Company has become one of the few in the UK biotechnology sector to have successfully taken a product from concept to commercialisation and has further major marketing approvals expected by the end of Q1 2021. The significant and rapid changes in Corporate Governance guidelines have led to the difficult decision to step down from Diurnal in order to focus on my other directorships; however, I am confident that Diurnal has a strong management team in place to deliver against its strategic goals."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR).
For further information, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk or contact: | |
Diurnal Group plc | +44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer | |
Richard Bungay, Chief Financial Officer | |
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker) | +44 (0)20 7886 2500 |
Corporate Finance: Freddy Crossley, Emma Earl | |
Corporate Broking: James Stearns | |
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe (Joint Broker) | +44 (0)20 7894 7000 |
Corporate Finance: Phil Davies, Will Goode, Luke Philippou | |
Healthcare Equity Sales: Andrew Keith | |
FTI Consulting (Media and Investor Relations) | +44 (0)20 3727 1000 |
Simon Conway | |
Victoria Foster Mitchell | |
Notes to Editors
About Diurnal Group plc
Founded in 2004, Diurnal is a UK-based specialty pharma company developing high quality products for the global market for the life-long treatment of chronic endocrine conditions, including congenital adrenal hyperplasia and adrenal insufficiency. Its expertise and innovative research activities focus on circadian-based endocrinology to yield novel product candidates in the rare and chronic endocrine disease arena.
For further information about Diurnal, please visit www.diurnal.co.uk
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