Evgen Pharma Plc (LON:EVG) CEO Dr Stephen Franklin discusses the unusual start to Evgen Pharma, what it’s like to float a second company and how Stephen found his way into entrepreneurial life from being a PhD biochemist.
Stephen, the founder of Evgen Pharma, has over 20 years’ commercial experience in life science industries, focusing on the commercialisation of new technology. He was the founder of Provexis plc, a nutraceutical company, and was its chief executive at the time of its admission to AIM in 2005. Prior to that, Stephen was a principal executive with ANGLE plc, the AIM quoted technology commercialisation company, having previously held a business development role with Manchester Biotech (now University of Manchester Innovation Company), one of the largest campus-based incubators in Europe; in these roles he helped establish a portfolio of drug discovery and development businesses. Stephen has a BSc in Biology (York), a PhD in Applied Biochemistry (Nottingham) and an MBA with distinction (Nottingham). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and an alumni of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851.
Evgen Pharma Plc is a clinical stage drug development company whose lead programmes are in breast cancer and subarachnoid haemorrhage, a type of stroke. The company has a clinical interest in prostate cancer and is carrying out preclinical work in multiple sclerosis. Evgen Pharma’s objective is to become the leading company in the development of pharmaceuticals that activate the antioxidant response element, Nrf2.