Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings plc, the pharmaceutical company developing prescription cannabinoid medicines for approval by global regulatory agencies and targeting the US$ multi-billion pain market, announces the following Board changes.
Richard Guy Hathaway has been appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director, as a representative of Imperial Brands Ventures Limited (“Imperial”), with effect from 1 February 2022. With agreement of OCTP, Imperial, a 10.87 per cent. shareholder of OCTP, nominated Mr Hathaway as its representative following the resignation of Bishrut Mukherjee from Imperial in September 2021. As announced on 18 January 2022, Bishrut Mukherjee remains on the Board of OCTP in his capacity as Non-Executive Director.
Mr Hathaway is the Corporate Development Director at Imperial Brands plc, the ultimate holding company of Imperial where he is responsible for leading M&A activity and other strategic initiatives and projects across the business. Prior to joining Imperial, he was a partner at KPMG LLP where he gained extensive experience of auditing and advising public and private companies across a wide range of sectors, including transactions such as financing and restructuring, acquisitions and disposals. He is a fellow of the ICAEW and holds an MA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.
Further to the announcement of 5 November 2021, Julie Pomeroy, currently an independent Non-Executive Director, will assume the role of Non-Executive Chair with effect from 11 February 2022, at which time the current Executive Chairman, Mr Neil Mahapatra will step down but remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director.
Commenting on the Board changes, OCTP Chief Executive John Lucas said:
“We are delighted to welcome Richard Hathaway to the Board as our new Non-Executive Director, where his own extensive financial and corporate experience will be of great benefit to the Company.
“The Board is very grateful to Julie for agreeing to step up to the role of Company Chair. Her PLC experience both in an executive and non-executive capacity will be invaluable as the business enters a key stage in its development, preparing to move into phase 1 clinical trials for our lead candidate OCT461201 and our inhaled cannabinoids programme, OCT130401, in Q1 2023 and Q4 2022, respectively. At the same time, we thank Neil as incumbent Chair, for his knowledge and guidance and look forward to continuing to work with him in his capacity as Non-Executive Director.”
