SAN DIEGO, April 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MEI Pharma,
Inc. (Nasdaq: MEIP), an oncology company focused on the clinical
development of novel therapies for cancer, today announced the
appointment of Brian Drazba as Chief
Financial Officer. Mr. Drazba joins the Company with more than 25
years of financial management experience in the healthcare
industry, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of Heron
Therapeutics, Inc., a commercial-stage biotechnology company. He
succeeds Thomas Zech, who previously
announced his intention to retire after a distinguished career
spanning four decades. Mr. Zech has served as the Company's Chief
Financial Officer since June
2010.
"Brian is an accomplished financial executive with a proven
track record in the industry," said Daniel
P. Gold, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MEI
Pharma. "He brings a breadth of financial leadership experience
through all stages of clinical development, including drug approval
and commercial launch. We are excited to have him on board and look
forward to leveraging his expertise as we continue to advance our
own portfolio of drug candidates down the clinical development path
toward commercialization. I also want to take this opportunity to
thank Tom and express my heartfelt appreciation for his years of
hard work, dedication and leadership over the past seven years. I
wish him all the best in his well-earned retirement."
Mr. Drazba served as Vice President of Finance and Chief
Financial Officer of Heron Therapeutics, Inc. from October 2013 to March
2017. From June 2009 to
December 2012, he was Vice President
of Finance and Chief Accounting Officer for ISTA Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company. ISTA
Pharmaceuticals was acquired by Bausch + Lomb, Inc. in June 2012. From 1992 to 2009, Mr. Drazba held
various positions of increasing responsibility within Insight
Health Corp., most recently as Senior Vice President and Chief
Accounting Officer. He began his career at Arthur Andersen &
Co., a public accounting firm. Mr. Drazba is a licensed Certified
Public Accountant in California
and received a B.A. degree in accounting from the University of San Diego.
About MEI Pharma
MEI Pharma, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEIP) is a San Diego-based oncology company focused on
the clinical development of novel therapies for cancer. The
Company's portfolio of drug candidates includes Pracinostat, an
oral HDAC inhibitor that is partnered with Helsinn Healthcare, SA.
Pracinostat has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation from
the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with
azacitidine for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed
acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are unfit for intensive
chemotherapy. MEI Pharma's clinical development pipeline also
includes ME-401, a potent and highly selective oral PI3K delta
inhibitor currently in a Phase Ib study in patients with
relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or
follicular lymphoma. The Company is also developing ME-344, a novel
mitochondrial inhibitor currently in an investigator-sponsored
study in combination with bevacizumab for the treatment of
HER2-negative breast cancer. For more information, please visit
www.meipharma.com.
MEI Pharma Forward-Looking Statements
Under U.S. law, a new drug cannot be marketed until it has
been investigated in clinical studies and approved by the FDA as
being safe and effective for the intended use. Statements included
in this press release that are not historical in nature are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe
harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. You should be aware that our actual results could differ
materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements,
which are based on management's current expectations and are
subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not
limited to, our failure to successfully commercialize our product
candidates; costs and delays in the development and/or FDA
approval, or the failure to obtain such approval, of our product
candidates; uncertainties or differences in interpretation in
clinical trial results; our inability to maintain or enter into,
and the risks resulting from our dependence upon, collaboration or
contractual arrangements necessary for the development,
manufacture, commercialization, marketing, sales and distribution
of any products; competitive factors; our inability to protect our
patents or proprietary rights and obtain necessary rights to third
party patents and intellectual property to operate our business;
our inability to operate our business without infringing the
patents and proprietary rights of others; general economic
conditions; the failure of any products to gain market acceptance;
our inability to obtain any additional required financing;
technological changes; government regulation; changes in industry
practice; and one-time events. We do not intend to update any of
these factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions
to these forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE MEI Pharma, Inc.