Tromsø/Oslo, February 28, 2012

Lytix Biopharma AS today announced that Unni Hjelmaas has been appointed new CEO of the company. Her current position is General Manager for Roche Norway, and she joins Lytix Biopharma on April 1st. 2012. She is succeeding Gunnar Sælid, who will now become Senior Advisor in the company.

Unni Hjelmaas started her career in the pharma industry in Roche Norway in 1990. She has held several positions in sales and marketing in various therapeutic areas, her longest experience is in oncology. Hjelmaas has also had international assignments for Roche, she was then based in their headquarters in Basel. Her responsibilities were then within life cycle management, international strategy and marketing. Unni Hjelmaas is Chairman of the Board of the Norwegian Pharma Industry Association.

Knut Eidissen, Chairman of the Board at Lytix Biopharma, comments: "Her long and successful career in the Norwegian and international pharma industry, makes Unni Hjelmaas the perfect candidate for Lytix Biopharma. Our objective is to build a Norwegian pharma company based on our own research portfolio. Hjelmaas experience, competency and international network will be essential for our research, development, collaboration with alliance partners, development of the organization, and commercialization of our company".

Unni Hjelmaas is enthusiastic about Lytix Biopharma and her new position: "I always wanted to one day get the opportunity to work for a Norwegian research based pharma company. A lot of hard work still remains before the first product from Lytix Biopharma can be made available. I am absolutely convinced Lytix Biopharma has all that is needed to succeed. Competent employees, collaboration with outstanding research groups, support from The Research Council of Norway, Innovation Norway and access to long-term capital. These are important success criteria for pharmaceutical drug development. Lytix Biopharma has done their homework. I am proud to work for an industry that save lives every day, and am lucky to get this exciting opportunity which I am looking forward to".

Lytix Biopharma AS was established in 2003 and is a privately held company working to develop new and unique drugs in cancer and infection. Lytix Biopharma works with drugs that have the potential to breakthroughs in the treatment of patients with cancer and infections. A significant part of product development is carried out at hospitals and laboratories engaged in contract work at home and abroad. Our main efforts will continue to concentrate on the continuation of the clinical development programs. In addition, new drug discovery is carried out in our research group based in Tromsø. Lytix Biopharma is located in Tromsø and Oslo, and has today 15 employees. The company is financed through equity from private sources and by public grants from Innovation Norway, the Research Council and The Norwegian Cancer Society.

For more information, please contact: 
Unni Hjelmaas, +47 915 19 651
Knut Eidissen, Chairman of the Board, +47 916 17 707 knut@picassoas.no