8 August 2019 - - US-based Exicure, Inc. (NASDAQ: XCUR), a specialist in gene regulatory and immunotherapeutic drugs utilising spherical nucleic acid constructs, has appointed Dr. Bali Muralidhar, a partner at Abingworth LLP, and Bosun Hau, a managing director and co-head of private equity at Tybourne Capital Management, to its board of directors, the company said.

Bali Muralidhar, M.D., Ph.D., has more than 15 years' experience in healthcare across a range of functions and currently serves as partner at Abingworth LLP, an international investment group dedicated to life sciences. Prior to joining Abingworth, Dr. Muralidhar was a senior partner at MVM Partners LLP.

Prior to MVM, he was a member of Bain Capital's leverage buyout team, focusing on healthcare. He earned a degree in clinical medicine from the University of Oxford and has a Ph.D. in translational cancer research from the MRC Cancer Cell Unit, University of Cambridge.

Bosun Hau brings more than 15 years of life science experience to Exicure's board with a focus on emerging growth stage companies.

Previously, Hau served as managing director and partner at Sailing Capital. He also served as a partner at MVM Partners and as a consultant with McKinsey and company.

Prior to McKinsey, he was part of GlaxoSmithKline's corporate venture group and has also served as an equity research analyst covering the medical device and pharmaceutical industries for JP Morgan and Prudential.

Hau received a B.S. in Molecular and Cellular Biology, a B.S.H.S. in Physiological Sciences and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Arizona, an M.Sc. in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University and an M.B.A in Finance and Health Management from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Exicure is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for immuno-oncology, inflammatory diseases and genetic disorders based on our proprietary Spherical Nucleic Acid, or SNA technology.

The company believes that its proprietary SNA architecture has distinct chemical and biological properties that may provide advantages over other nucleic acid therapeutics and may have therapeutic potential to target diseases not typically addressed with other nucleic acid therapeutics.

Exicure's lead program is in a Phase 1b/2 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors. Exicure is based outside of Chicago, IL and in Cambridge, MA.