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Company News: Curetis Appoints Christopher M. Bernard as Chief Executive Officer of Newly-Formed U.S. Subsidiary

– Former Chief Commercial Officer of Epic Sciences brings valuable experience in sales, marketing and commercialization of in-vitro diagnostic platforms

Curetis N.V. (the “Company” and, together with Curetis GmbH, “Curetis“), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced that Christopher M. Bernard has been appointed to the newly-created role of President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company’s North American subsidiary Curetis USA, Inc., effective immediately. He will be responsible for the development of the new subsidiary based in San Diego, CA, and will lead the marketing and sales initiatives for Curetis in the U.S.

Curetis USA, Inc. was founded to drive the future development and sales of the Company’s Unyvero Platform in North America. The Company recently announced completion of enrollment in the U.S. FDA trial of Unyvero for the detection of lower respiratory tract infections. Curetis plans to submit the Unyvero LRT55 Cartridge for FDA clearance by the end of 2016, with potential clearance and commercial launch targeted for the first half of 2017.

“We are pleased to have Chris join Curetis as the CEO of our U.S. subsidiary,” commented Oliver Schacht, PhD, CEO of Curetis N.V. “He is a highly accomplished executive with proven ability to develop successful sales and marketing strategies, drive growth for emerging companies, manage operations and deliver on key strategic, commercial and operational objectives. He is an important addition to the leadership team at Curetis and will play a critical role in enhancing the Company’s growing global presence by establishing and leading its U.S. subsidiary, based in San Diego.”

Mr. Bernard joins Curetis with more than 22 years of diagnostics, biopharmaceutical and translational research industry experience, including roles in executive management, strategic development, product commercialization, marketing and sales. Prior to joining Curetis, Mr. Bernard served as Chief Commercial Officer of Epic Sciences, developer of one of the few commercially available platforms that can identify circulating tumor cells in the blood. In this role, Mr. Bernard was responsible for the expansion of Epic’s technology in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotech companies and leading cancer research centers and the commercialization of Epic’s independent and companion diagnostic products.

Prior to joining Epic Sciences, Mr. Bernard worked at Metabolon, Inc. as an Officer and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, where he rebuilt the company’s Metabolytics business, a business-to-business biochemical profiling service responsible for the company’s total sales at the time. Prior to Metabolon, he served as Vice President, Sales and Marketing and as an Officer of Abaxis, Inc., directing the sales and marketing efforts for the company’s point-of-care diagnostic chemistry platform, Piccolo Xpress®. Mr. Bernard began his career at Cytyc Corporation (Hologic, Inc.), ultimately becoming the regional business director where he was responsible for growth in sales and management of a portfolio of diagnostic products, including ThinPrep® Pap Test and Imager, and NovaSure® endometrial ablation.

Mr. Bernard received a B.A. in Psychobiology from Hiram College, Ohio, where he is a current board member of the Center for Entrepreneurship.

“Curetis is a cutting-edge molecular diagnostics company with tremendous opportunity,” said Mr. Bernard. “I am very excited by this opportunity to lead Curetis USA and support the planned North American commercialization of the Unyvero platform. I look forward to working with Curetis’ outstanding executive team and board to advance the company and position it for further success.”

He added: “This is an exciting as well as strategically important time to be joining Curetis. Once FDA clearance is accomplished, the Unyvero System will make an immediate impact in U.S. hospitals in two key areas: lower respiratory tract infections and antibiotic resistance. In the U.S., there is a death every 10 minutes due to pneumonia, and respiratory infections are the second leading cause of hospitalizations. Coupled with increasing global concern around super bugs that are resistant to standard antibiotics, this makes the timing of a U.S. launch for Curetis ideal.”