Dendreon Names W. Thomas Amick President and Chief Executive Officer
July 30 2014 - 4:01PM
Business Wire
Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq:DNDN) today announced that its
board of directors has appointed W. Thomas Amick as president and
chief executive officer, effective immediately. Mr. Amick has also
been appointed to the Company’s board of directors. Mr. Amick
succeeds John H. Johnson, who previously announced his plans to
step down as president and chief executive officer for personal
reasons. Mr. Johnson will work with Mr. Amick through August 15,
2014 to ensure a smooth transition.
Mr. Amick brings to Dendreon significant experience within the
pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. Most recently from 2010
to 2012, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of
Discovery Labs, a specialty biotechnology company. Under his
leadership, Discovery Labs was granted approval for Surfaxin, the
first synthetic lung surfactant approved for use in premature
infants. Prior to that, Mr. Amick enjoyed a highly successful
30-year career with Johnson & Johnson where, as vice president
of the Ortho Biotech Oncology Franchise, he launched Procrit®
(epoetin alfa) and built J&J’s oncology franchise into a
multi-billion dollar operation, making Procrit the most successful
product in J&J history at the time. Mr. Amick also previously
held positions as president of Ortho Biotech Europe, president of
Janssen-Ortho Canada, and vice president of J&J Development
Corporation (the venture capital division of J&J).
“Tom’s appointment is the result of a thorough search process,”
said Douglas G. Watson, chairman of the board. “We believe that
Tom’s leadership experience and oncology product expertise make him
an excellent fit for Dendreon.”
“I have a great passion and respect for Dendreon’s mission of
transforming the lives of patients through the discovery,
development and commercialization of innovative cancer treatments,”
said Mr. Amick. “I believe that PROVENGE is a unique immunotherapy
treatment and look forward to working with the Dendreon team.”
About Dendreon
Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is
to target cancer and transform lives through the discovery,
development, commercialization and manufacturing of novel
therapeutics. The Company applies its expertise in antigen
identification, engineering and cell processing to produce active
cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product candidates designed to
stimulate an immune response in a variety of tumor types.
Dendreon’s first product, PROVENGE® (sipuleucel-T), was approved by
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in April 2010. Dendreon
is exploring the application of additional ACI product candidates
and small molecules for the potential treatment of a variety of
cancers. The Company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and
is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol DNDN. For
more information about the Company and its programs, visit
http://www.dendreon.com/.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly
historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors which may
cause Dendreon's actual results to be materially
different from historical results or from any results expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors
include, but are not limited to, whether we are able to pay off or
refinance our indebtedness, the dilution or other effects resulting
from capital raising or debt restructuring transactions, our
inability to achieve and sustain commercial success for PROVENGE;
the identification of efficacy, safety or other issues with
PROVENGE; a slower than anticipated adoption by treating physicians
of PROVENGE for the treatment of patients with advanced prostate
cancer for a variety of reasons, including competing
therapies, instability in our sales force, the risk that we cannot
replace vacant sales positions on a prompt basis, perceived
difficulties in the treatment process, delays in obtaining
reimbursement or for other reasons; any promotional limitations
imposed by the FDA or the EU on our ability to
commercialize and market PROVENGE; unexpected difficulties and
costs associated with the rapid expansion of our commercial
operations to support the commercial launch of PROVENGE; the impact
of competing therapies on sales of PROVENGE, the failure to achieve
reimbursement approvals in Europe, manufacturing or quality
difficulties, disruptions or delays and other factors discussed in
the "Risk Factors" section of Dendreon's Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2014. All
forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this
cautionary statement. Dendreon is providing this
information as of the date of this press release and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this release as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
Dendreon CorporationCorporate CommunicationsLindsay Rocco,
862-596-1304media@dendreon.com