BASEL, Switzerland, Aug. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) reports today that it has appointed David Veitch as Chief Commercial Officer of Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd. Mr Veitch will join the company on September 1, 2014. As a member of the management committee, he will be responsible for leading Basilea's commercial operations, including sales, marketing, pricing and market access, reporting to Chief Executive Officer Ronald Scott.
David Veitch brings over 25 years of international commercial experience in the pharmaceutical industry to Basilea. He has led cross-functional organizations at the country and European level and was responsible for the launch of numerous brands across many therapeutic areas. Most recently he was President European Operations at Savient Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Savient, from 1996 to 2011, Mr. Veitch held various positions with increasing responsibilities at Bristol-Myers Squibb UK and Europe. Mr. Veitch's last position at Bristol-Myers Squibb was Senior Vice President Europe, Middle-East and Asia, Marketing and Brand Commercialization, leading the commercial organization for the region with a focus on specialty care brands. He started his pharma career in 1987 at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, UK. Mr Veitch holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from the University of Bristol, UK.
"We are very pleased to have David Veitch join our team as Chief Commercial Officer. His extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of European pharmaceutical markets will be instrumental in the commercialization of our broad-spectrum antibiotic Zevftera/Mabelio," said Ronald Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Basilea. "We anticipate launching Zevtera in Germany in the second half of this year, followed by launches in additional key European markets in 2015. In the event our antifungal isavuconazole is approved next year, Basilea could have two hospital anti-infectives with European market authorization by the end of 2015. This would afford the company significant commercial synergy and put Basilea in a strong position to optimize the value of these two drugs. We look forward to working with David to bring our new medications to the market."
About Basilea
Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Through the fully integrated research and development operations of its Swiss subsidiary Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd., the company focuses on innovative pharmaceutical products in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and oncology, targeting the medical challenge of rising resistance and non-response to current treatment options. Basilea's pipeline includes the antibiotic Zevtera ® /Mabelio ® (ceftobiprole medocaril) and the antifungal isavuconazole.
Zevtera/Mabelio is a bactericidal broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotic from the cephalosporin class, covering Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Pseudomonas spp., which are frequent causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia. 1 It is approved for the treatment of adults with hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP, excluding ventilator-associated pneumonia, VAP) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in certain European countries 2 and is currently under regulatory review in Switzerland.
Isavuconazole (drug substance: isavuconazonium sulfate) is an investigational once-daily intravenous and oral broad-spectrum antifungal for the potential treatment of life-threatening invasive fungal infections which predominantly occur in immunocompromised patients such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It has EU and U.S. orphan drug status for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis. In the U.S., isavuconazole was granted FDA fast-track status and designated a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for invasive aspergillosis, mucormycosis and candidiasis under the U.S. GAIN Act. In July 2014, Basilea submitted a European Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) and its co-development partner Astellas Pharma Inc. submitted a U.S. New Drug Application (NDA) seeking isavuconazole approval for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and mucormycosis. Basilea holds full rights to isavuconazole in markets outside of the U.S. and Canada where Astellas is the license holder.
Disclaimer
This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For further information, please contact:
| Media Relations | Investor Relations |
| Peer Nils Schröder, PhD Head Public Relations & Corporate Communications +41 61 606 1102 media_relations@basilea.com | Barbara Zink, PhD, MBA Head Corporate Development +41 61 606 1233 investor_relations@basilea.com |
This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com .
References
| 1 | R. N. Jones. Microbial etiologies of hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2010 (51), S81-S87 |
| 2 | Following approval under the European decentralized procedure, ceftobiprole has received national licenses in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom; national authorization in Italy and Luxembourg, and reimbursement and pricing authorization in several countries including Spain is ongoing |
Press release (PDF) http://hugin.info/134390/R/1849260/645395.pdf
HUG#1849260
