NEW YORK, June 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intercept Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICPT ) (Intercept), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat chronic underserved liver diseases, such as primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), today announced the appointment of Juan Carlos Lopez-Talavera, M.D., Ph.D. as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs.
"Juan Carlos brings more than 20 years of industry and academic experience to Intercept and is a globally recognized hepatologist," said David Shapiro, M.D., Chief Medical Officer. "We will benefit greatly from Juan Carlos's considerable expertise in working with the medical community to enhance understanding of underserved liver diseases and strategies for improving patient care."
Dr. Lopez-Talavera most recently served as Head of Hepatology R&D and Vice President of Medical Affairs at Abbvie, where he was responsible for all Medical Affairs activities supporting the global launch of Abbvie's regimen for the treatment of Hepatitis C.
Before joining Abbvie, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Roche and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as academic positions at the Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Yale University School of Medicine.
"It is exciting to be joining Intercept at such a pivotal moment in the field of hepatology as the Company redefines the treatment of underserved liver diseases," said Dr. Lopez-Talavera. "There is an urgent need for new therapies for these diseases and I'm looking forward to advancing Intercept's innovative clinical program to help us better understand how to treat the millions of people across the globe living with PBC, NASH and other chronic liver diseases."
About Intercept
Intercept is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat non-viral chronic liver diseases. The company's lead product candidate, obeticholic acid (OCA), is an agonist of the farnesoid X receptor (FXR). OCA is being developed for a variety of chronic liver diseases, including primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) and biliary atresia. The FDA has granted OCA breakthrough therapy designation for the treatment of NASH with liver fibrosis, a population representing potentially more than 14 million patients in the United States, and granted OCA fast track designation for the treatment of patients with PBC who have an inadequate response to or are intolerant of ursodiol. OCA has also received orphan drug designation in both the United States and Europe for the treatment of PBC and PSC. Intercept owns worldwide rights to OCA outside of Japan, China and Korea, where it has out-licensed the product candidate to Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. For more information about Intercept, please visit the Company's website at: www.interceptpharma.com .
Safe Harbor Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including our strategic directives under the caption "About Intercept." These "forward-looking statements" are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the initiation, cost, timing, progress and results of our development activities, preclinical studies and clinical trials; the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of OCA, INT-767 and any other product candidates we may develop, particularly the possibility that regulatory authorities may require clinical outcomes data (and not just results based on achievement of a surrogate endpoint) as a condition to any marketing approval for OCA, and any related restrictions, limitations, and/or warnings in the label of any approved product candidates; our plans to research, develop and commercialize our product candidates; the election by our collaborators to pursue research, development and commercialization activities; our ability to attract collaborators with development, regulatory and commercialization expertise; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for its product candidates; our ability to successfully commercialize our product candidates; the size and growth of the markets for our product candidates and our ability to serve those markets; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any future products; the success of competing drugs that are or become available; regulatory developments in the United States and other countries; the performance of third-party suppliers and manufacturers; our need for and ability to obtain additional financing; our estimates regarding expenses, future revenues and capital requirements and the accuracy thereof; our ability to retain key scientific or management personnel; and other factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 filed on March 14, 2014 as well as any updates to these risk factors filed from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Intercept undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.
For more information about Intercept Pharmaceuticals, please contact: Intercept Pharmaceuticals: Barbara Duncan or Mark Vignola +1-646-747-1000 Media inquiries: Investor inquiries:
