Full Press Release Details
Lausanne, 30 May 2017
the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting
| Date: | 28 June 2017, at 11.00 am Swiss time |
| Place: | EPFL Innovation Park Building D, ground floor, Uranus Meeting room, 1015 Lausanne |
2016 was an exciting landmark year for AC
Immune. Through our successful IPO on the US NASDAQ stock exchange we have strengthened the Company's capabilities as a global
leader in personalized treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. The IPO provides us with the financial resources and a broad
shareholder base to support the dynamic next growth phase. In 2016 we continued to make substantial progress in our promising product
pipeline of seven therapeutics and three diagnostics candidates, entered into a new collaboration with another major partner and
strengthened our organization with new talents.
Innovation creates value in a challenging
Despite many ongoing global research endeavors,
neurodegenerative diseases continue to represent a significant unmet medical need and have proven to be a challenging field for
drug development. Current research clearly demonstrates that Abeta and Tau are the most promising targets for Alzheimer's
disease and much knowledge is now available about how to conduct clinical trials and the importance of early intervention with
disease modifying drugs. We believe that a multipronged approach is needed to deliver meaningful therapeutic benefit to patients
and that this benefit is best delivered in a preventive phase of the disease.
AC Immune's therapeutic pipeline is
well positioned with four clinical product candidates to tackle the two hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, notably the anti-Abeta
antibody, crenezumab, now in two pivotal phase 3 clinical trials, an anti-Tau antibody in late phase 1 clinical development and
the anti-Abeta ACI-24 and the anti-Tau ACI-35 therapeutic vaccines in early clinical development. We aim at advancing this portfolio
as quickly as possible, in partnership or alone.
The measurable progress of our diagnostic
portfolio has become an important value driver. The scientific community has established that better diagnostics will be essential
to get new disease-modifying therapies to patients. Highly sensitive tools are needed to achieve not only early diagnosis, but
also to stage Alzheimer's disease and stratify the risk throughout clinical trials and to develop companion diagnostics and
surrogate markers. Lately, there has been a high demand for Tau diagnostics, as the severity of cognitive impairment of patients
correlates with the presence of Tau. The knowledge about Tau pathology for baseline selection
of patients could dramatically improve the power of clinical trials and counselling of patients regarding disease progression.
AC Immune is developing a highly sensitive tau-PET tracer, in collaboration with Piramal, which has shown promising first data
in a phase 1 clinical trial.
Investing beyond Alzheimer's
An important use of the funds raised at
our IPO is to leverage our in-depth knowledge of protein misfolding beyond Alzheimer's disease, namely to:
We are currently exploring other disease
areas such as Down syndrome (ACI-24 anti-Abeta vaccine), Glaucoma (Morphomer Abeta inhibitor) and Parkinson's disease (alpha-synuclein
inhibitor and alpha-synuclein diagnostic) and expect that this portfolio will grow in importance.
A strong culture to drive sustainable
A key element of our success is a strong
company culture based on a highly talented and growing team. While we advance our Company to the next stage of development it is
vital that we continue to focus on our commitment to innovation and our entrepreneurial attitude. Over the last 12 months we increased
our team by more than 25%, engaging global experts in Finance and R&D. We continue to aim for the highest standards and excellence
across everything we do.
We would like to take this opportunity to
express our gratitude to all our employees for their dedication and hard work. We are equally very appreciative of our shareholders
and thank you for your continued confidence and support.
Our world-leading science, strong partnerships
and new financial backing, puts AC Immune in the fore-front of life science companies tackling neurodegenerative diseases.
We look ahead with great optimism to a successful
| /s/ Martin Velasco | /s/ Andrea Pfeifer |
| Martin Velasco | Prof. Andrea Pfeifer |
| Chairman of the Board | CEO |
Kindly find hereafter the agenda items and
proposals of the Board of Directors in connection with the second ordinary annual meeting of AC Immune SA as a public company:
Agenda Items and Proposals of the Board
The Board proposes to approve
the Annual Report, the Annual Statutory Financial Statements and the Financial Statements under IFRS of AC Immune SA for the year
2016, and to take note of the Reports of the Auditors. Copies of these documents are available for download in the "Investors"
section of our website (www.acimmune.com).
The Board of Directors proposes
that the net loss of the year 2016 in the amount of KCHF 7'628 is added to the loss brought forward of KCHF 24'930
resulting in a reduced new balance of loss brought forward of KCHF 32'558. Under IFRS accounting principles, the net
loss for the business year 2016 amounted to KCHF 7'096.
The Board proposes that the
members of the Board and the Executive Committee are discharged from their liabilities for their activities in the financial year
The Board of Directors proposes
to hold the following separate votes on the non-performance-related and the variable compensation of the Board of Directors and
the Executive Committee:
The Board of Directors proposes
that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of non-performance-related compensation for the members of the Board of Directors
covering the period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, i.e., CHF 428'000 (cash base compensation plus
social security costs).
The Board of Directors proposes
that shareholders approve the maximum grant of equity or equity linked instruments for the members of the Board of Directors from 1 July 2017
to 30 June 2018 with maximum value of CHF 451'000 (equity or equity linked instruments value plus social security
The Board of Directors proposes
that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of non-performance-related cash compensation for the members of the Executive
Committee from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, i.e., CHF 1'554'000 (cash base compensation plus
social security costs).
The Board of Directors proposes
that shareholders approve the total maximum amount of variable compensation for the members of the Executive Committee for the
current year 2017, i.e., CHF 782'000 (cash compensation plus social security costs).
The Board of Directors proposes
that shareholders approve the maximum grant of equity or equity linked instruments for the members of the Executive Committee from
1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 with maximum value of CHF 3'472'000 (equity or equity linked instruments
value plus social security costs).
The Board of Directors proposes
the re-election of Martin Velasco as member and as Chairman of the Board, Peter Bollmann, Friedrich von Bohlen, Andrea Pfeifer,
Detlev Riesner and Thomas Graney as members of the Board of Directors, each until the end of the next ordinary General Meeting.
As Detlev Riesner has exceeded the general age limit of 75 years foreseen in the Articles of Association, his election therefore
requires an exception by the Shareholders' Meeting.
The Board of Directors proposes
the re-election of Detlev Riesner, Martin Velasco and Tom Graney as members of the Compensation, Nomination & Corporate Governance
Committee, each until the end of the next ordinary General Meeting.
The Board of Directors proposes
that Bugnion Ballansat Ehrler, represented by G rald Virieux, avocat, rue de Rive 6, case postale 3143, CH-1211 Geneva 3
shall be re-elected as the independent proxy of the Company until the end of the next ordinary General Meeting.
The Board of Directors proposes
to re-elect Ernst & Young SA, in Lancy, for a term of office of one year.
| /s/ Martin Velasco | /s/ Andrea Pfeifer | |
| Martin Velasco, Chairman | Andrea Pfeifer, CEO |
Organizational Matters
1 Financial Statements
The Annual Statutory Financial Statements