CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– Boston Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sophie Kornowski as Chair of its Board of Directors and Acting Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Dr. Kornowski succeeds interim Co-CEOs Dr. Joanne T. Beck and Dr. Craig T. Basson, who will continue in their positions as Chief Operations Officer and Chief Medical Officer, respectively. Since 2018, Sophie Kornowski has been a partner at Gurnet Point Capital, a private investment firm focused on the healthcare sector. In this role, she has worked closely with the Boston Pharmaceuticals team for several years, as a member of the Board of Directors and, at the request of the Board, has recently supported Corporate Development efforts.
“We are very pleased that Sophie has accepted our invitation to lead Boston Pharmaceuticals into the next phase of its growth trajectory, which includes continued expansion and progress of the pipeline, and the development of a strategy for long-term evolution,” said Stefan Meister, the current Chairman of Boston Pharmaceuticals and Vice Chairman of the B-Flexion investment group, which owns the company. “Boston Pharmaceuticals, greatly inspired by our legacy in innovative pharma and biotech, is an important investment for B-Flexion and we look forward to Sophie leading the company into its next phase of growth.”
Sophie Kornowski said: “I have worked closely with the Boston Pharmaceuticals team for several years, and it is a great honor to expand my role at this exciting time for the company. Along with the rest of the board and management team, my focus will be upon building the company’s successful history of in-licensing differentiated molecules and developing them in a focused and nimble fashion. I am looking forward to leveraging the firm’s strong organizational capability, diverse pipeline and existing and future financial backing to build a sustainable, best-in-class growth biotech that will provide medicines for many patients in need of new options.”
In her position at Gurnet Point Capital, Dr. Kornowski has been a successful investor in several innovative start-ups and high growth businesses that have products in the clinic or commercializing, in diseases such as Attention Deficit Disorder Hyperactivity, Cancer and Food Allergy.
Prior to joining Gurnet Point Capital, she was Executive Vice-President of Roche Partnering and member of the Extended Corporate Executive Committee of F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, one of the world’s largest healthcare companies, and board member of Chugai Pharmaceuticals. In that role, working closely with R&D and Commercial teams at Roche and Genentech, she was responsible for the Partnering and the M&A strategy with Biotechs, Pharma, HealthTech and Research Institutions worldwide for Roche. Previously, Dr. Kornowski had led the largest affiliate of F. Hoffmann-La Roche outside of the US, based in France for many years. Earlier in her career, she held several leadership commercial roles across geographies in leading innovative pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies in France, Israel and the US. Dr. Kornowski holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth and a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Paris Descartes University.
