Ikaria Holdings Names New Chairman, Daniel Tasse
CLINTON, N.J., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Ikaria Holdings, Inc. today announced that Board Chairman David E. Shaw is retiring from the board. Current Ikaria CEO Daniel Tasse has been named Chairman of the Board, succeeding Shaw, who has served as Chairman since 2007.
Shaw was a founding investor and director in Ikaria, Inc., a biotechnology company that was formed in 2005, and was instrumental in combining it with INO Therapeutics in 2007 to form Ikaria Holdings, Inc. The transaction, valued at $670M, was led by New Mountain Capital and included ARCH Venture Partners and Venrock. Shaw served as founding CEO until Tasse's appointment as Director, President and CEO in January 2008. He is active in other private and public companies, and serves as Managing Partner of Black Point Group and a partner at Venrock.
"Ikaria exists and flourishes today because of the direction David Shaw established for the company from the beginning, including its focus on critical care and the formation of a strong and experienced management team," said Daniel Tasse, Chairman and CEO of Ikaria. "We thank David for his vision and leadership and wish him continued success in his future endeavors."
Prior to joining Ikaria in January 2008, Tasse served as General Manager of the $2 billion Pharmaceuticals & Technologies business of Baxter International, Inc., a division which was created by integrating the company's Anesthesia, Critical Care and BioPharma Solutions units. Prior to his tenure at Baxter International, Tasse held management positions at GlaxoSmithKline and Upjohn. He has a B.Sci. in Biochemistry from the University of Montreal.
About Ikaria Holdings, Inc.
Ikaria Holdings, Inc. is a biotherapeutics company whose acute care products and therapies address the significant unmet needs of critically ill patients. The company's lead product, INOmax(R) (nitric oxide) for inhalation, is the only FDA-approved drug for the treatment of hypoxic respiratory failure in term and near-term newborns, and also is marketed in Canada, Europe, Latin America, Australia, Japan and Mexico. Ikaria is engaged in new and ongoing clinical development of INOmax, carbon monoxide for inhalation and hydrogen sulfide. Ikaria also acquired the North American rights to terlipressin, which currently is under review by the FDA for the treatment of hepatorenal syndrome Type 1. The company also recently acquired the exclusive worldwide licenses to BL-1040, a potential breakthrough treatment for preventing pathological cardiac remodeling following acute myocardial infarction, as well as to a portfolio of investigational compounds focused on vascular leakage for a range of critical care conditions, such as acute liver and kidney injury. Ikaria is headquartered in Clinton, NJ, with research facilities in Seattle, WA and Madison, WI, and a manufacturing facility in Port Allen, LA. Please visit www.ikaria.com.
SOURCE Ikaria Holdings, Inc.
CONTACT: Samina Bari of Ikaria, +1-908-238-6372, samina.bari@ikaria.com
Web site: http://www.ikaria.com/