TiGenix appoints Dr. Guido Schopen as vice president commercial operations

Dr. Schopen brings to TiGenix more than 20 years of bio-pharmaceutical industry experience. In addition to his global commercial responsibilities, Dr. Schopen, who is a German national, will also assume the role of country manager Germany.

"We are pleased to have attracted Guido to TiGenix," said Eduardo Bravo, CEO of TiGenix. "He has joined the company at a pivotal time as we are building our commercial organization to capitalize on positive reimbursement decisions ahead, and are preparing to take full advantage of the end of the ATMP transition period to aggressively grow our ChondroCelect franchise. His successful track record in global marketing and sales of cutting edge biologicals and his experience in a wide range of immune mediated diseases like inflammatory bowel diseases will also prove invaluable for the launch preparation of Cx601, our lead development compound that is currently in Phase III for fistulizing Crohn's disease."

Dr. Schopen has joined TiGenix on April 2. Most recently he was acting as interim manager at biopharmaceutical and diagnostic companies on a number of strategic commercial programs. Prior to that he was at UCB, where as VP Global Marketing and Head of New Product Commercialization he oversaw the development of a focused strategic direction for UCB's immunology pipeline, as well as the successful global launch of Cimzia®, an innovative anti-TNF compound, in rheumatoid arthritis. Before that he was General Manager Immunology at UCB Germany where he set up the Company's new immunology business unit, built a strong network of key opinion leaders and other stakeholders, and developed a successful market access strategy.

Prior to UCB, Dr. Schopen was Director of Global Strategic Marketing at Bayer HealthCare in the US, with global responsibility for Bayer's immunology franchise. Dr Schopen started his career in Germany holding roles in sales & marketing, business and clinical development at ICI Pharma, Hoechst/ Behringwerke AG, and Bayer AG.  He earned his MD degree from the RWTH Aachen University, one of the leading academic institutions in Germany.

For more information:

Eduardo Bravo
Chief Executive Officer
eduardo.bravo@tigenix.com

Claudia D'Augusta
Chief Financial Officer
claudia.daugusta@tigenix.com

Hans Herklots
Director Investor & Media Relations
hans.herklots@tigenix.com
+32 16 39 60 97

About TiGenix

TiGenix NV (NYSE Euronext Brussels: TIG) is a leading European cell therapy company with one marketed product for cartilage repair, ChondroCelect®, and a strong pipeline with clinical stage allogeneic adult stem cell programs for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. TiGenix is based out of Leuven (Belgium) and has operations in Madrid (Spain), and Sittard-Geleen (the Netherlands). For more information please visit www.tigenix.com.

Forward-looking information

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