Actavis Appoints Industry Veterans To Lead U.S. Specialty Brands Business Units

DUBLIN, Jan. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Actavis plc (NYSE: ACT), a leading global specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced an updated business structure for its U.S. Specialty Brands business designed to maximize the Company's newly strengthened position in key therapeutic areas and position it for continued long-term growth.

Under its new structure, Actavis' U.S. Specialty Brands business has been refocused as four business units - Women's Health, Urology/Gastroenterology (GI), Dermatology/Established Brands and Business Operations. The Company announced the appointment of Herm Cukier to lead the U.S. Specialty Brands Women's Healthcare category, Charles Sabino, Jr., to lead the U.S. Specialty Brands Urology and GI therapeutic category, and Thomas Griffin, Jr., to lead the Business Operations team. The Company is actively engaged in planning efforts related to the leadership of the U.S. Specialty Brands Dermatology and Established Brands business. The four business unit leaders will report to Tim Callahan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, who reports to Fred Wilkinson, President, Actavis Specialty Brands.

"The significant increase in size and complexity of our U.S. Specialty Brands business, following the acquisition of Warner Chilcott last year, demands that we have the right structure and exceptional leadership team in place to drive our continued commercial success in the future," said Mr. Wilkinson. "We believe this business unit structure will provide the most effective way to manage our larger portfolio, provide deeper product and customer insights and deliver the necessary focus to drive continued growth in each therapeutic category within our U.S. Specialty Brands business."

U.S. Women's Health

Actavis' U.S. Women's Health business is an industry leader with over 90 percent share of voice in oral contraceptives based on IMS Audits and a robust pipeline recently bolstered with the addition of seven new development programs encompassing three near-term launches and more than 10 products in late-stage development. As General Manager, U.S. Women's Health, Mr. Cukier joins Actavis from Bayer, where he served most recently as Vice President, Marketing and Commercial Operations for Women's Healthcare. Prior to his time at Bayer, he held roles as President and CEO of Reverion Pharmaceuticals, a start-up biotech company, General Manager at Schering Plough and Chief Marketing Officer at Organon. Earlier in his career Mr. Cukier held positions of increasing commercial responsibility at Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer, and he holds a BSE Degree in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a MBA in Marketing and International Business from Columbia Business School. Mr. Cukier adds to Actavis' extensive knowledge of the Women's Health market and brings an exceptional background in U.S. and global commercialization to the Actavis organization.

U.S. Urology & Gastroenterology

Actavis' growing Urology business markets six products in the U.S., including Rapaflo^® Androderm^® and Enablex^®. The Company's Gastroenterology business in the U.S. is led by the Delzicol^® and Asacol HD^® franchise of products. As General Manager, U.S. Urology and Gastroenterology, Mr. Sabino joins Actavis from Aptalis Pharma, where he most recently served as Vice President, Marketing for the specialty pharmaceutical company focused on Gastroenterology and Cystic Fibrosis treatments. Prior to his time at Aptalis, Mr. Sabino served as Chief Operating Officer for Lipose Corp., a medical device company, and as a Managing Director for Cline, Davis & Mann, the second-largest healthcare advertising agency in the United States. Mr. Sabino also held positions of increasing responsibility within both Pfizer and Novartis, including Executive Director of the Xolair^® respiratory franchise, and he has a MBA from Columbia Business School and a BS in Biology from Haverford College. Mr. Sabino brings significant commercial expertise to Actavis' specialty brand business and provides a strong foundation of knowledge for Actavis' new Gastroenterology business.

U.S. Business Operations

Actavis' U.S. Business Operations group will be responsible for all shared commercial functions for the respective U.S. therapeutic business units, including sales operations, sales training, marketing research, sales analytics and managed markets field teams. Mr. Griffin has been with Actavis since 2011 as VP, Sales and Operations for the U.S. Specialty Brands business. Prior to joining Actavis, Mr. Griffin was VP, Sales for Bayer Diabetes Care from 2008 to 2010, and prior to that spent 19 years in the Pfizer sales organization in positions of increasing responsibility, culminating as Senior VP Sales for the Urology-Respiratory Therapeutic Cluster. Mr. Griffin brings exceptional sales leadership, operations and managed markets expertise to this newly created U.S. Business Operations unit.

About Actavis

Actavis plc (NYSE: ACT) is a global, integrated specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing, manufacturing and distributing generic, brand and biosimilar products. Actavis has global headquarters in Dublin, Ireland and U.S. administrative headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, USA.

Actavis markets generic, branded generic, legacy brands and Over-the-Counter (OTC) products in more than 60 countries, and operates a global branded specialty pharmaceutical business focused in the Women's Health, Urology, Gastroenterology and Dermatology therapeutic categories. Actavis also has a portfolio of five biosimilar products in development in Women's Health and Oncology. Actavis Global Operations has more than 30 manufacturing and distribution facilities around the world, and includes Anda, Inc., a U.S. pharmaceutical product distributor.

For press release and other company information, visit Actavis' Web site at http://www.actavis.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Statements contained in this press release that refer to Actavis' estimated or anticipated future results or other non-historical facts are forward-looking statements that reflect Actavis' current perspective of existing trends and information as of the date of this release. For instance, any statements in this press release concerning prospects related to Actavis' strategic initiatives, product introductions and anticipated financial performance are forward-looking statements. It is important to note that Actavis' goals and expectations are not predictions of actual performance. Actavis' performance, at times, will differ from its goals and expectations. Actual results may differ materially from Actavis' current expectations depending upon a number of factors affecting Actavis' business. These factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainty associated with financial projections; successful integration of the Warner Chilcott acquisition and the ability to recognize the anticipated synergies and benefits of the Warner Chilcott acquisition; the impact of competitive products and pricing; periodic dependence on a small number of products for a material source of net revenue or income; the timing and success of product launches; the difficulty of predicting the timing or outcome of product development efforts and regulatory agency approvals or actions, if any; risks and uncertainties normally incident to the pharmaceutical industry, including product liability claims and the availability of product liability insurance on reasonable terms; market acceptance of and continued demand for Actavis' products; changes in the laws and regulations, including Medicare, Medicaid, and similar laws in foreign countries affecting, among other things, pricing and reimbursement of pharmaceutical products and the settlement of patent litigation; and such other risks and uncertainties detailed in Actavis, Inc.'s periodic public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to Actavis plc's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending September 30, 2013. Except as expressly required by law, Actavis disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CONTACTS:

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SOURCE Actavis plc