ApiJect Systems, Corp., Announces Appointment of Global Branding Leader, Craig Cohon as Chief Strategy Officer

ApiJect Systems, Corp., a medical technology public benefit corporation that is making prefilled injectors to deliver medicines and vaccines with enormous speed, scale, and efficiency, announced today that Craig Cohon has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer. 

London-based Mr. Cohon has served since May 2020 as Global Advisor to ApiJect. With an extensive and eclectic mix of global business experience, he brings special skill in pioneering strategies, expanding into new markets and leveraging new platforms that are especially timely in a fast-changing business and public health environment.  ­­­

Mr. Cohon spent 14 years in executive leadership with The Coca Cola Company, spearheading its entry into Russia in 1991 and leading brand work for Coca-Cola globally. He also spent close to a decade owning and leading the Cirque du Soleil business in Russia. For the past 20 years Cohon has been passionate about sustainability, and has led several entrepreneurial ventures. He was Chairman for 10 years of Worn Again, the world's first closed loop textile recycling company, now majority-owned by H&M. He also spent eight years running an international development advisory firm that built businesses in India and Africa, including First Energy, an alternative energy company providing commercial cooking to over a million kitchens in India, as well as Reuters Market Light, a technology company that improved productivity and profitability for over 3.3 million Indian farmers.  

In his new role at ApiJect, Mr. Cohon will lead the company's strategic and brand development in the U.S. and abroad. Having worked, lived and travelled across more than 100 countries, Mr. Cohon possesses strong relationships globally that will facilitate ApiJect's jump into new markets as it pursues its mission to serve global health. Mr. Cohon will also play a central role in guiding the company's efforts to introduce its high-volume, low-cost, easily administered single-dose prefilled injectors and related platforms into the world's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and other future bio-emergencies.  

In welcoming Mr. Cohon, ApiJect CEO Franco Negron, commented: "ApiJect is moving rapidly to meet the demands of its mission. This is a time when everyone in the company is asked to wear many hats and having someone like Craig who truly has his hands in everything significant to our progress going forward is a huge value-add for the company."  

Mr. Negron continued: "Craig is a multilingual, multi-dimensional and multi-talented leader with proven success guiding brands and strategic direction. He understands how to frame, articulate and implement business strategy in ways that speak to investors, consumers, and industry and national leaders. Craig has pushed and pulled global brands into new markets, investing in cutting-edge ideas and business platforms along the way. I cannot overstate the value he has added as an advisor over the last ten months and how excited I am to have him as a full-time presence on ApiJect's Executive Leadership team." 

ApiJect Co-Founder and Chairman, Jay Walker said: "Craig as our full-time strategy leader further elevates our opportunity to grow as a significant presence in global health.  His track record of executing in different markets and regions, each with their own culture and market characteristics, will help ApiJect to effectively pursue our mission across the globe." 

Mr. Cohon commented: "I am deeply moved by ApiJect's mission to make injectable medicine safe, effective and easily available in the United States and globally. I am joining ApiJect as it transitions from exciting start-up to established industry game-changer. This presents a wonderful opportunity to firmly root that mission in the company's strategic direction. I look forward to the adventure ahead." 

ABOUT APIJECT SYSTEMS, CORP.

ApiJect Systems, Corp. is a medical technology company that revolutionizes how the world manufactures and delivers injectable medicines and vaccines.

The ApiJect technology platform brings together simple, interconnectable components to create scalable drug delivery devices for U.S. and global markets. At the center of these devices is the aseptic and cost-effective Blow-Fill-Seal (BFS) fill-finish process. And, by using a modular manufacturing approach, these devices can be produced in clinical or commercial scale by ApiJect or the drug manufacturer. 

Our first device, the single-dose ApiJect Prefilled Injector, allows a healthcare professional to twist a pen needle-style hub onto a BFS container — creating a simple, scalable prefilled syringe. ApiJect is working with several vaccine pharmaceutical companies to conduct the testing and regulatory reviews of COVID-19 vaccines in the ApiJect Prefilled Injector. ApiJect has submitted its needle hub device for a pre-submission FDA review and anticipates the filing of its drug container with COVID-19 vaccine as part of a review submission by each of ApiJect's COVID-19 vaccine partners. ApiJect's Prefilled Injector will be ready for patient distribution as soon as it receives FDA approval. 

In 2020, ApiJect was awarded a $138 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to create a high-volume domestic capacity to supply prefilled injectors. The U.S.-based facility that ApiJect has developed through this emergency program has the capacity to provide approximately 45 million Prefilled Injectors per month to America's population through 2021.  

ApiJect has also recently been approved by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation for a $590 million loan to construct a multi-facility campus enabling the U.S. to more quickly package high volumes of injectable medicines and vaccines in the event of a national emergency, beginning with COVID-19. Located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, this 1.2 million square foot campus will be home to the ApiJect Gigafactory, is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical fill-finish facilities. The campus is expected to have an annual production capacity of up to 3 billion single-dose prefilled injectors. 

ApiJect, along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is a founding member of the RAPID Consortium, a public-private partnership dedicated to giving the U.S. and the world the surge capacity it needs for drug packaging to address future pandemics and bio-emergencies.