HistoIndex Welcomes Its New CEO on Board

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Jul 05, 2018, 18:00 ET

SINGAPORE, July 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HistoIndex has appointed Dr Poon Thong Yuen as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 1 July 2018. Dr Poon takes over from Dr Gideon Ho, who will continue to drive the global business growth of the company as the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO).

Dr Ho confidently speaks of his successor, "Thong Yuen has been working closely with HistoIndex over the past year to transform the revenue model from hardware sales to clinical trial services for biopharmaceutical companies focusing on Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). I am proud to say that our new business direction has taken off successfully with strong validation from multiple clinical studies." He further added that Dr Poon is a seasoned investment professional with more than a decade of corporate experiences with healthcare services, therapeutic drugs and medical devices, including former board directorship roles in companies such as Artisan Pharma (acquired by Asahi Kasei Pharma), Inviragen (acquired by Takeda Pharmaceutical) and Forma Therapeutics (large collaboration agreement with Celgene). This makes him an ideal candidate to propel both HistoIndex and its China subsidiary, Hangzhou Choutu Technology Ltd. Co., towards becoming a global MedTech company.

Dr Dean Tai, Co-founder of HistoIndex and Managing Director of Hangzhou Choutu Technology, also commented on Dr Poon's role in supporting the company's pharmaceutical clients in China, "NASH is definitely the next market opportunity in China. With Dr Poon on board, Choutu is well prepared to lead the China market in NASH clinical trial services."

Dr Poon was most recently Chief Investment Officer of Zicom MedTacc, a Singapore-based MedTech investor that has supported various start-up companies, including HistoIndex, from product prototyping to market adoption. Zicom MedTacc is a co-investor of HistoIndex, together with SEEDS Capital (the investment arm of Enterprise Singapore). Says Dr Poon, "Providing clinical trial services to the biopharma industry is the first step for us to work closely with pharmaceutical companies that are developing drugs for NASH. Our eventual goal is to be a Companion Diagnostics platform for NASH."

Since 2017, HistoIndex has seen progress in its clinical and pharmaceutical partnerships, which involve the assessment of treatment efficacy for NASH as well as other fibrotic liver diseases. In two ongoing FDA Phase 4 clinical studies, HistoIndex's stain-free digital pathology system, Genesis^®200, has been used as a reliable and objective tool to assess fibrosis improvement in patients taking anti-Hepatitis B drugs [1],[2]. Separately, the Genesis^®200 is currently being used in seven ongoing FDA Phase II/III clinical trials -- six in NASH and one in Hepatitis C -- to assess regression in relevant NASH characteristics. These significant milestones created by HistoIndex's game-changing technology further strengthen the company's commitment to aid key pharmaceutical corporations in their drug development efforts.

ABOUT NASH: THE RACE FOR A TREATMENT
A severe form of Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), NASH is one of the conditions awaiting the advent of FDA-approved drugs. The NASH therapeutics market is expected to reach up to US$49 Billion by 2027 [3], and sees major pharmaceutical names like Allergan, Gilead Sciences, Novo Nordisk and Bristol-Myers Squibb boosting the market in their race to present effective and safe treatments for NASH. This is where HistoIndex aims to accelerate the development of effective NASH treatments with the global adoption of its technology.

REFERENCES:

[1] Quantitative Assessment of Liver Fibrosis (qFibrosis) Reveals Precise Outcomes in Ishak "Stable" Patients on Anti-HBV Therapy
Nature.com, Scientific Reports.

[2] Advanced Septa Size Quantitation Determines the Evaluation of Histological Fibrosis Outcome in Chronic Hepatitis B Patients
Modern Pathology, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41379-018-0059-x.
Note: The Phase 4 studies are registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT01938781, NCT01938820).

[3] Report: Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) - Market Forecast to 2027 - Research and Markets.

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SOURCE HistoIndex