ARIAD Expands Its Board of Directors with Appointment of Alexander J. Denner, Ph.D. of Sarissa Capital Management
February 21 2014 - 7:35AM
Business Wire
Additional Independent Director to be
Appointed to ARIAD Board
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARIA) today announced the
appointment of Alexander J. Denner, Ph.D. to a two-year term on the
Company’s Board of Directors, effective immediately. With the
addition of Dr. Denner, who serves as the chief investment officer
and founding partner of Sarissa Capital Management LP, the Board
now comprises nine directors, eight of whom are independent. The
Company will also appoint another independent director to the
Board, who will be selected by the Board and be subject to Dr.
Denner’s concurrence.
“We welcome Dr. Denner to the Company’s Board and look forward
to working with him to continue building shareholder value, which
we all believe is best achieved through successful
commercialization of Iclusig® (ponatinib), as well as the ongoing
development of our strong pipeline of important cancer medicines,”
said Harvey J. Berger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer
of ARIAD.
“I am very pleased by the outcome of our recent discussions with
ARIAD. Importantly, the agreement we reached offers the opportunity
to immediately work together with the existing Board to maximize
the potential of Iclusig and the pipeline of cancer medicines and
to build value for all shareholders,” said Dr. Denner.
Previously, Dr. Denner served as a senior managing director at
Icahn Capital, a portfolio manager at Viking Global Investors, and
a portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Dr.
Denner serves as a director of Biogen Idec Inc. and VIVUS, Inc.,
both biopharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Denner brings a strong background overseeing the operations
and research and development of healthcare companies and evaluating
corporate governance matters. He also has extensive experience as
an investor, particularly with respect to healthcare companies, and
has broad healthcare-industry knowledge.
About ARIAD
ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge,
Massachusetts and Lausanne, Switzerland, is an integrated global
oncology company focused on transforming the lives of cancer
patients with breakthrough medicines. ARIAD is working on new
medicines to advance the treatment of various forms of chronic and
acute leukemia, lung cancer and other difficult-to-treat cancers.
ARIAD utilizes computational and structural approaches to design
small-molecule drugs that overcome resistance to existing cancer
medicines. For additional information, visit http://www.ariad.com
or follow ARIAD on Twitter (@ARIADPharm).
About Sarissa Capital Management LP
Sarissa Capital Management LP, headquartered in Greenwich,
Connecticut, is an investment advisor to private investment funds.
Sarissa seeks to achieve superior risk-adjusted returns by
constructing a portfolio, primarily across healthcare and related
sectors, where there is a significant discrepancy between market
value and intrinsic value. Sarissa will frequently use activism to
close this discrepancy.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements”
including, but not limited to, statements about ARIAD’s plans,
objectives, expectations and intentions. Such statements include:
the continued building of shareholder value through the successful
commercialization of Iclusig, the ongoing development of our
pipeline of cancer medicines, and the appointment of another
independent director. Forward-looking statements are based on
management's expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks
and uncertainties that may cause actual results, outcome of events,
timing and performance to differ materially from those expressed or
implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties related to
continued growth in market acceptance of Iclusig, risks and
uncertainties associated with biotechnology drug development,
including that preclinical data and early-stage clinical data may
not be replicated in later stage clinical studies, the costs
associated with our research, development, manufacturing and other
activities, the conduct, timing and results of pre-clinical and
clinical studies of our product candidates, the adequacy of our
capital resources and the availability of additional funding,
uncertainties related to the timing of identifying and recruiting a
new independent director, and other factors detailed in the
Company's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission. The information contained in this press release is
believed to be current as of the date of original issue. The
Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking
statements after the date of this document to conform these
statements to actual results or to changes in the Company's
expectations, except as required by law.
For ARIAD:For InvestorsKendra Adams,
617-503-7028Kendra.adams@ariad.comorFor MediaLiza Heapes,
617-621-2315Liza.heapes@ariad.comorFor Sarissa:Melinda Zech,
203-302-2330mzech@sarissacap.com
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