Toxys Appoints Four New Board Members to Accelerate Business Growth

 Toxys BV is a biotech company based in Leiden, The Netherlands, that provides innovative, high-fidelity in vitro toxicity screening solutions to identify carcinogenic and other hazardous properties of compounds for the pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetics and food industry. Today, Toxys announces the appointment of four new members of the Board of Directors (including an independent chairman and further independent and investor-based Board members). With the strengthened leadership, Toxys will further accelerate business growth to become an industry-leader in this critical safety field.

"I am extremely excited and proud to be able to announce the appointments of the members of this enhanced Board of Directors. They have varied valuable experiences, yet share a spirit of innovation, and bring energy and expertise to our discussions. Strengthening of the Board is an important step which will further enable the intended growth of Toxys" said Giel Hendriks, CEO of Toxys BV.

The members of the new Toxys Board are:

Joost Holthuis (Chair, independent non-executive director) is the founder and former CEO of OctoPlus, a Dutch drug delivery company. During that time, he built up and successfully listed the company on Euronext. OctoPlus was acquired by Dr. Reddy’s in 2013. Joost was CEO and co-founder in 2011 of Cristal Therapeutics. He is also partner of the Dutch venture capital firm BioGeneration Ventures. Joost holds a MSc degree in Pharmacy from Leiden University and a PhD degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Utrecht University.

Chris Newton (independent non-executive director) was in 2000 a founder, Board Member and Chief Scientific Officer of UK biotech Argenta Discovery. After moving to BioFocus plc in 2005, Chris was a director and Chief Scientific Officer. Following the acquisition of BioFocus plc by Galapagos BV, in late 2005, he was appointed Senior Vice-President of Galapagos Services. Following the sale of BioFocus and Argenta to Charles River Laboratories in 2014, Chris served as VP Alliances for Galapagos BV. Chris holds an MA degree from the University of Cambridge and MSc and PhD degrees from the University of Sheffield and is also a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Gerty Holla (investor non-executive director) serves as a Senior Investment Manager of Life Sciences and Health at InnovationQuarter since 2014. Prior to that, she worked as a Consultant at Vectrix and as Investment Manager at BioPartner Start-up Ventures. Previously, Gerty worked as a staff member for the Advisory Council for Science and Technology and was Manager at Amsterdam Science Park. Gerty holds a MSc degree from the University of Groningen.

Johan Sebregts (investor non-executive director) is cofounder and managing partner of KIKK capital and the Zeeland Investment fund. Johan is a successful entrepreneur who sold his company in 2000. After that, he was partner in a regional development firm and was founder and director of the start-up program Starterslift. Johan holds a MSc degree in Social Geography from the University of Amsterdam.

Giel Hendriks (CEO Toxys, executive director), is founder and CEO of Toxys. In 2014, Giel obtained financing to create Toxys. In 2016 he secured financing to begin operations in an independent laboratory located at the Leiden Bio Science Park and developed the company into an internationally recognised biotech company and contract research organisation (CRO) specializing in chemical safety testing. Prior to that, he worked as scientist in genetic toxicology at the Leiden University Medical Center. Giel holds a MSc degree in Molecular Biology and a PhD degree in Cell Biology from Utrecht University.

About Toxys
Toxys is a Dutch biotech company that offers a broad spectrum of innovative in vitro toxicology solutions. Toxys was founded in 2014 as a spin-off from the Leiden University Medical Center and has its state-of-the-art laboratory facilities located at the Leiden BioScience Park. We are experts in the field of genetic and developmental toxicology with a focus on Mode-of-Action. We are dedicated to bringing relevant information to our clients on potential human health hazards of novel and existing drugs, chemicals and other substances. Toxys is currently working with 7 of the Top10 global Pharma companies and several major chemical, cosmetics and food multinationals.

Toxys has developed the unique ToxTracker® and ReproTracker® assays. ToxTracker is a high-throughput stem cell-based reporter suite of assays that allows reliable identification of genotoxic carcinogens. ToxTracker provides mechanistic insight into undesired properties of chemicals. ReproTracker® is currently under development and its commercial launch (planned for 2019) will allow in vitro developmental toxicity hazard identification. These assays can be particularly useful in Mode-of-Action and Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) approaches for chemical safety assessment.

We offer ToxTracker and ReproTracker as tailored service to our customers, often in combination with standard toxicology assays or under license and as kits for use in partner’s own laboratories. Toxys is highly valued for its scientific expertise, high quality results and responsiveness.

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