Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Announces Leadership Transition
November 14 2018 - 8:00AM
Douglas Swirsky Assumes Role of Chief
Executive Officer
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: RNN), a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company developing innovative therapies to
improve outcomes in cancers that are difficult to treat, today
announced that Douglas J. Swirsky, who has served as Rexahn's
president and chief financial officer since January 2018, has been
named the company's president and chief executive officer and
appointed to the company's board of directors effective
immediately. Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D., chief executive officer, has
departed the company and resigned as a member of its board of
directors.
“On behalf of the board and everyone at Rexahn, I want to thank
Peter Suzdak for his contributions to the company over the past six
years,” said Peter Brandt, chairman of the board of directors. “The
board is confident that Doug has the experience and creativity to
deliver on the promise of Rexahn’s innovative pipeline and lead the
company forward through substantial value-creating milestones.”
“I am excited about the future of Rexahn and believe significant
opportunities exist to transform Rexahn into an industry-leading,
cancer-focused company. I look forward to working with the board,
the executive team and all stakeholders to achieve this goal,” said
Mr. Swirsky.
Prior to joining Rexahn, Mr. Swirsky was CEO and a director of
GenVec, Inc., a publicly traded biotechnology company, a position
he held from 2013 through the sale of the company in 2017. He also
served as GenVec’s CFO from 2006 until he assumed the role of CEO
in 2013. Prior to joining GenVec, Mr. Swirsky was a managing
director and the head of life sciences investment banking at Stifel
Nicolaus from 2005 to 2006 and held investment banking positions at
Legg Mason from 2002 until Stifel Financial's acquisition of the
Legg Mason Capital Markets business in 2005. He has also previously
held investment banking positions at UBS, PaineWebber and Morgan
Stanley. Mr. Swirsky currently serves on the board of directors of
Fibrocell Science, Inc., Cellectar Biosciences, Inc. and Pernix
Therapeutics Holdings, Inc. He is a certified public accountant and
a CFA® charter holder. He received his B.S. in Business
Administration from Boston University and his M.B.A. from the
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mr. Swirsky will also continue to serve as the company’s
principal financial officer.About Rexahn
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NYSE American: RNN) is a clinical
stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing novel,
targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. The Company's
mission is to improve the lives of cancer patients by developing
next-generation cancer therapies that are designed to maximize
efficacy while minimizing the toxicity and side effects
traditionally associated with cancer treatment. Rexahn's product
candidates work by targeting and neutralizing specific proteins
believed to be involved in the complex biological cascade that
leads to cancer cell growth. Preclinical studies show that several
of Rexahn's product candidates may be effective against multiple
types of cancer, including drug resistant cancers, and
difficult-to-treat cancers and others may augment the effectiveness
of current FDA-approved cancer treatments. The Company has two
oncology product candidates, RX-3117 and RX-5902, in Phase 2
clinical development and additional compounds in preclinical
development, including RX-0201. For more information about the
Company and its oncology programs, please
visit www.rexahn.com.
Safe Harbor
To the extent any statements made in this press release deal
with information that is not historical, these are forward-looking
statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements
about Rexahn’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with
respect to cash flow requirements, future operations and products,
enrollments in clinical trials, the path of clinical trials and
development activities, and other statements identified by words
such as “will,” “potential,” “could,” “can,” “believe,” “intends,”
“continue,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “may,”
and other words of similar meaning or the use of future dates.
Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that
are, to different degrees, uncertain. Uncertainties and risks may
cause Rexahn’s actual results to be materially different than those
expressed in or implied by Rexahn’s forward-looking statements. For
Rexahn, particular uncertainties and risks include, among others,
understandings and beliefs regarding the role of certain biological
mechanisms and processes in cancer; drug candidates being in early
stages of development, including clinical development; the ability
to initially develop drug candidates for orphan indications to
reduce the time-to-market and take advantage of certain incentives
provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; the ability to
transition from our initial focus on developing drug candidates for
orphan indications to candidates for more highly prevalent
indications; the availability and access to capital; and the
expected timing of results from our clinical trials. More detailed
information on these and additional factors that could affect
Rexahn’s actual results are described in Rexahn’s filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent
annual report on Form 10-K and the subsequent quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this news release
speak only as of the date of this news release. Rexahn undertakes
no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Media Contact:DGI CommSusan Forman or Laura
Radocaj
+1-212-825-3210sforman@dgicomm.comlradocaj@dgicomm.com
Investor Contact:ir@rexahn.com
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