WILIMINGTON, Del., April 9, 2020
/PRNewswire/ -- BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:
BSTC), a biopharmaceutical company that originated and continues to
develop collagenase-based therapies with a first-in-class
collagenase-based product marketed as XIAFLEX® in North America, today announced that the Board
of Directors has appointed Joseph
Truitt as interim Chief Executive Officer. He will also
serve on the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Truitt succeeds J.
Kevin Buchi, who served as CEO since
October 2019, and has departed the
company.
"We are delighted to have Joe on board and believe he will play
a major role in helping to shape the future of BioSpecifics. Joe is
a highly experienced biopharma executive with a strong track record
of clinical, commercial, and operational leadership. The Board of
Directors remains strongly focused on its corporate strategy of
fully maximizing near- and long-term sustainable value creation,
including full exploration of opportunities within the CCH
portfolio of commercial and pipeline assets, as well as identifying
external strategic opportunities. We believe BioSpecifics is poised
for a new leg of growth bolstered by strong fundamentals," said
Jennifer Chao, Chairman of the Board
of Directors. "As we continue on this path, we would like to thank
Kevin for what he accomplished during his tenure with the company
and wish him well in his future endeavors."
Prior to joining BioSpecifics, Mr. Truitt was most recently
Chief Executive Officer of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. since
May 2018. He joined the company in
2009 and had previous roles of Chief Operations Officer and Chief
Commercial Officer. Under his leadership, the company was acquired
by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $1.2
billion. Mr. Truitt joined Achillion from Viropharma, Inc.
following its acquisition of Lev Pharmaceuticals. At Lev, Mr.
Truitt was most recently Vice President of Business Development and
Product Strategy and led the build out of the commercial team and
infrastructure in preparation for product launch. Mr. Truitt joined
Lev from Johnson & Johnson, where he was Vice President of
Sales and Operations and directed commercial operations and had
P&L responsibility for sales, operations and national accounts
at the company's OraPharma subsidiary. Mr. Truitt holds a BS degree
in Marketing from LaSalle University,
Philadelphia, and an MBA degree
from St. Joseph's University,
Philadelphia.
"I am excited to take on the role of interim CEO of
BioSpecifics. There are very significant value creation
opportunities and I look forward to working closely with the Board
of Directors and team to fully execute on the Company's clearly
defined corporate objectives," said Joseph
Truitt, interim Chief Executive Officer.
About BioSpecifics Technologies Corp.
BioSpecifics
Technologies Corp. (BioSpecifics) is a commercial-stage
biopharmaceutical company. The company discovered and developed a
proprietary form of injectable collagenase (CCH) which is currently
marketed by BioSpecifics' partner, Endo International plc (Endo),
as XIAFLEX® in North
America for the treatment of Dupuytren's contracture and
Peyronie's disease. Endo expects a commercial approval in the
second half of 2020 for a third CCH indication, cellulite, subject
to U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. The CCH research and
development pipeline includes several additional potential
indications; adhesive capsulitis, plantar fibromatosis and uterine
fibroids. For more information, please visit
www.biospecifics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This report includes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of, and made
pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of, the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements
of historical fact, including statements regarding the Company's
strategy, future operations, future financial position, future
revenues, projected costs, prospects, plans and objectives of
management, shareholder value, expected revenue growth, future
strategic opportunities, the effect of recent management and board
leadership changes, and the assumptions underlying or relating to
such statements, are "forward-looking statements." In some cases,
these statements can be identified by forward-looking words such as
"expect," "plan," "anticipate," "potential," "estimate," "can,"
"will," "continue," the negative or plural of these words, and
other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are
predictions based on our current expectations and our projections
about future events and various assumptions. There can be no
assurance that we will realize our expectations or that our beliefs
will prove correct. There are a number of important factors that
could cause BioSpecifics' actual results to differ materially from
those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, but
not limited to: the timing of regulatory filings and action; the
ability of Endo to achieve its objectives for XIAFLEX®; the market
for XIAFLEX® in, and timing, initiation and outcome of clinical
trials for, additional indications, which will determine the amount
of milestone, royalty, mark-up on cost of goods sold, license, and
sublicense income that BioSpecifics may receive; the potential of
XIAFLEX® to be used in additional indications; Endo modifying its
objectives or allocating resources other than to XIAFLEX®; the
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; and other risk factors identified
in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2019 (the "2019 Annual
Report"), specifically in Part I, Item IA under the heading "Risk
Factors" of the 2019 Annual Report and risk factors identified in
our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All
forward-looking statements included in this report are made as of
the date hereof, are expressly qualified in their entirety by the
cautionary statements included in this report and, except as may be
required by law, we assume no obligation to update these
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE BioSpecifics Technologies Corp.