LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - June 29, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or the
"Company") (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery company, announces today
that Susan Swarte will join the Company on 1 August as Chief Financial
Officer. At the next general meeting of shareholders the Board of
Supervisory Directors will propose to appoint Mrs. Swarte as member of the
Executive Board for a period of four years. After approval of the
shareholders, OctoPlus' Executive Board will consist of Chief Executive
Officer Simon Sturge, Chief Financial Officer Susan Swarte, Chief
Scientific Officer Joost Holthuis and Chief Business Officer Gerben
Moolhuizen.
Susan Swarte (1968) has over 16 years of experience in financial and
strategic management. She worked at Unilever and Numico (now Danone), two
large, international and publicly listed companies, where she was
responsible for financial, logistic and reporting aspects. At Numico she
professionalised the finance function in China and most recently she was
responsible for all financial aspects of the export business of Danone Baby
Nutrition as Finance Director, Global Export.
"We are delighted with the appointment of Susan Swarte," comments Simon
Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus. "The Supervisory Board of Directors has nominated
Mrs. Swarte based on her international experience and excellent track
record in the broad financial management of large public companies. She
knows the financial aspects of companies operating large manufacturing
facilities inside out and we believe her expertise will greatly benefit
OctoPlus. We look forward to welcoming her in Leiden."
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications: telephone number +31 (71) 524
1071, or send an e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl.
About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a product-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to the
creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus'
proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects,
improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than
existing therapies. Rather than seeking to discover novel drug candidates
through early stage research activities, OctoPlus focuses on the
development of longer acting, controlled release versions of known protein
therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its clients.
The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex
Therapeutics' lead product Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of
interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Locteron is
being manufactured for Biolex by OctoPlus and is currently in Phase IIb
clinical studies.
In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug
formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical
and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active
pharmaceutical ingredients.
OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol
OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website
www.octoplus.nl.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to
the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the
industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus'
current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of
external conditions and events. In particular the words "expect",
"anticipate", "predict", "estimate", "project", "plan", "may", "should",
"would", "will", "intend", "believe" and similar expressions are intended
to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number
of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such
statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ
materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the
event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version
of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.
Click here for the press release in PDF:
http://hugin.info/137076/R/1325401/311725.pdf
