Scancell appoints healthcare finance veteran as new CFO

Immunotherapy developer Scancell announced the appointment of Sath Nirmalananthan as its new chief financial officer on Tuesday, effective immediately.

The AIM-traded firm said Nirmalananthan would bring a wealth of experience to his new role, having spent more than 15 years in various financial positions across the healthcare sector.

He had worked for both FTSE and Nasdaq-listed companies, as well as in investment banking and audit capacities.

Before joining Scancell, Nirmalananthan served as the CFO for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa at Prenetics - a company in the genomics-driven health sciences field.

Prior to Prenetics, he held key financial roles at consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser, where his responsibilities included serving as finance director for group reporting and later for e-commerce in Reckitt's health division.

In the early stages of his career, Nirmalananthan worked as an equity research analyst focusing on healthcare at investment bank Nomura, and as an auditor at KPMG.

His academic credentials included a BSc in pharmacology from King’s College, London, and he is a Chartered Accountant holding an ACA (ICAEW) qualification.

Additionally, he is a non-executive member of the audit committee at the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR).

“We are excited to have Sath join us as chief financial officer - his financial acumen and extensive track record of building value in emerging biopharmaceutical companies will benefit Scancell in our next stage of evolution,” said chief executive officer Lindy Durrant.

“I look forward to working with him closely as we continue to focus the clinical development of our two lead cancer vaccine assets, SCIB1 and Modi-1, whilst continuing to leverage the potential of our proprietary antibody platform through additional licensing and revenue generating opportunities.

“We are very grateful for Keith's excellent financial guidance which has been invaluable to Scancell's success to date and are pleased that he will continue as company secretary.”

At 0944 BST, shares in Scancell Holdings were down 1.54% at 9.6p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.