Neurotech International has announced a change at the top, with Anthony Filippis stepping down as chief executive officer and managing director of the Australian biotechnology company.
Filippis, who joined Neurotech in February 2025, has resigned from his positions as the company prepares to move ahead with its clinical development plans. The company did not disclose a reason for his departure.
Executive Chairman Mark Davies will continue in his role, providing leadership continuity following the management change. Neurotech has also appointed Andrew Chapman as a non-executive director, bringing fresh financial and capital-markets experience to the board.
The changes come at an important point for Neurotech, which is developing treatments for paediatric neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions. Its main focus is NTI164, an oral cannabinoid-based therapy that the company is developing for conditions including autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome and PANDAS/PANS.
Chapman’s appointment is particularly relevant as Neurotech looks to fund and advance its clinical programmes. He is the founder of Merchant Funds Management and has more than 25 years of experience in financial services. His career has included advising biotechnology companies on capital raising and capital-market strategies.
The board believes his experience could be useful as the company navigates the funding and commercial challenges that typically come with taking an experimental drug through advanced clinical development.
Neurotech is also preparing for another board change. Robert Maxwell Johnston is expected to retire as a director after the company’s annual general meeting, subject to shareholders approving Chapman’s election. The 2026 AGM is scheduled for November 5.
For now, Davies will remain the key figure overseeing the company. His background includes investment banking, trading and corporate advisory work, with a focus on capital raising and helping emerging companies pursue business opportunities.
The leadership reshuffle comes as Neurotech attempts to take NTI164 further through clinical development. The company describes itself as a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical business focused on paediatric neurological disorders.
NTI164 is at the centre of that strategy. Neurotech has been studying the therapy across several neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder, Rett syndrome and PANDAS/PANS.
The company has reported encouraging findings from earlier clinical work and has received ethics approval for a Phase III clinical study in autism spectrum disorder. The next stage will require the company to balance clinical development with funding, regulatory requirements and potential commercial opportunities.
That makes the timing of the leadership transition significant. For a small clinical-stage biotech, moving into later-stage trials can require substantially more funding and operational planning than earlier research. The company will therefore be under pressure to maintain momentum while managing the transition at the executive level.
Filippis had brought more than two decades of biotechnology experience to Neurotech when he took over as CEO. Before joining the company, he worked at Percheron Therapeutics and had experience in business development, licensing, mergers and acquisitions and capital-market transactions. Neurotech had described his appointment in 2025 as part of its effort to strengthen the company as it moved towards more advanced stages of development.
His departure after roughly a year and a half marks a relatively quick change in leadership. However, Neurotech has sought to limit disruption by keeping Davies as executive chairman and adding Chapman to the board.
The company has thanked Filippis for his contribution and welcomed Chapman to the board. It also acknowledged Johnston’s service as he prepares to leave the board following the AGM.
For investors, attention will now turn to what the leadership change means for Neurotech’s clinical plans, funding strategy and development of NTI164.
The company is operating in a challenging biotechnology environment where promising clinical results need to be followed by successful late-stage trials, regulatory progress and, eventually, commercialisation.
Neurotech’s immediate task will be to keep its development programme moving while establishing a clear direction under its refreshed leadership team.
With Filippis stepping away, Chapman joining the board and Davies remaining as executive chairman, Neurotech is entering its next phase with a different leadership structure but the same central focus: advancing NTI164 and finding potential treatments for children living with complex neurological and neurodevelopmental conditions.