Verona Pharma PLC COPD Collaboration and New Commercial Director (0816B)
March 31 2017 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMVRP
RNS Number : 0816B
Verona Pharma PLC
31 March 2017
Verona Pharma Appoints Richard Hennings as Commercial
Director;
Enters into Collaborations to Develop Dry Powder and Metered
Dose Inhaler Formulations for COPD Maintenance Treatment
Richard Hennings brings more than a decade of strategic
commercial biopharma leadership
Development of RPL554 in dry powder and metered dose inhaler
formulations has potential to increase commercial market
opportunity
31 March 2017, London - Verona Pharma plc (AIM: VRP.L) ("Verona
Pharma" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing and commercialising innovative
therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory diseases, announced
today the appointment of Richard Hennings to the Company's senior
management team as Commercial Director, with immediate effect.
Richard will oversee the Company's market access strategy and its
increasing commercial focus. As part of this, Verona Pharma has
also announced new collaborations with two European technology
companies to develop its first-in-class product candidate RPL554 as
dry powder inhaler (DPI) and metered dose inhaler (MDI)
formulations for maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD). DPI and MDI devices are the most common
forms of drug delivery in non-hospitalized patients with COPD and
are well-suited for the maintenance therapy of COPD patients.
With more than 15 years in the healthcare industry, Richard has
held a series of roles with increasing responsibility, including
leading the commercialisation of certain innovative medicines,
strategy development and local operational execution. His
experience spans a number of top global pharmaceutical and
biotechnology companies, including AstraZeneca, Gilead Sciences
(Gilead) and Novartis. During his tenure at Gilead, Richard was
involved in growing Gilead's respiratory development portfolio to
include cystic fibrosis and COPD development programmes.
In addition, the Company believes its new collaborations to
develop RPL554 in DPI and MDI formulations have the potential to
increase the market opportunity for the product, if approved.
Handheld DPI and MDI devices are the most common forms of drug
delivery in non-hospitalized patients with COPD and are well suited
for maintenance therapy. Following the development of commercially
viable formulations, Verona Pharma plans to commence pre-clinical
studies with the DPI and MDI formulations and may also explore the
potential use of the formulation for the treatment of asthma and
other respiratory diseases.
"We are delighted to welcome Richard to the Verona Pharma team
and look forward to advancing our market focus and commercial plans
under his leadership. Richard brings extensive experience in
commercial planning and launch preparations, as well as brand
building of innovative respiratory products in the U.S. and
Europe." said Jan-Anders Karlsson, PhD, CEO of Verona Pharma. "In
addition, we believe our new collaborations to develop RPL554 in
both DPI and MDI inhaler formulations could improve the product's
potential to address the unmet needs of people with
difficult-to-manage respiratory diseases such as COPD, and, if
approved, could open up commercial opportunities in out-patients
that are able to use hand-held inhaler devices."
-ENDS-
For further information, please contact:
Verona Pharma plc Tel: +44 (0)20 3283
4200
Jan-Anders Karlsson, Chief Executive info@veronapharma.com
Officer
N+1 Singer (Nominated Adviser and Tel: +44 (0)20 7496
UK Broker) 3000
Aubrey Powell / James White
FTI Consulting (UK Media and Investor Tel: +44 (0)20 3727
enquiries) 1000
Simon Conway / Stephanie Cuthbert veronapharma@fticonsulting.com
/
Natalie Garland-Collins
ICR, Inc. (US Media and Investor
enquiries)
James Heins Tel: +1 203-682-8251
James.Heins@icrinc.com
Stephanie Carrington Tel. +1 646-277-1282
Stephanie.Carrington@icrinc.com
About Verona Pharma plc
Verona Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics
for the treatment of respiratory diseases with significant unmet
medical needs. Verona Pharma's product candidate, RPL554, is a
first-in-class, inhaled, dual inhibitor of the enzymes
phosphodiesterase 3 and 4 that acts as both a bronchodilator and an
anti--inflammatory agent in a single compound. In clinical trials,
treatment with RPL554 has been observed to result in statistically
significant improvements in lung function as compared to placebo
and has shown clinically meaningful and statistically significant
improvements in lung function when added to two commonly used
bronchodilators as compared to either bronchodilator administered
as a single agent. RPL554 has also shown anti-inflammatory effects
and been well tolerated in clinical trials. Verona Pharma is
developing RPL554 for the treatment of chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis, and potentially
asthma.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All
statements contained in this press release that do not relate to
matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking
statements.
These forward-looking statements are based on management's
current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor
guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and
other important factors that may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to be materially different from our
expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to, the development of DPI
and MDI formulations of RPL554 and the potential for these
formulations to increase the market opportunity for the product, if
approved.
These and other important factors could cause actual results to
differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking
statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking
statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this
press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking
statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation
to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.
These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as
representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of
this press release.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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