PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that Joseph L. Baker has joined the company as Vice President, Commercial Manufacturing and Global Supply Chain. He will have primary responsibility for the development of Alexza’s commercial manufacturing processes and scale-up of the Company’s Pilot Manufacturing Center. Mr. Baker was most recently General Manager for Watson Laboratories, Inc., where he was responsible for all activities for the Salt Lake City manufacturing facility. He was previously Director, Oral Product R&D and Director, Operations Technical Services for Theratech, Inc. Prior to Watson Laboratories and Theratech, Mr. Baker held various management and technical positions with Lohmann Therapy Systems and Lederle Laboratories. Mr. Baker holds an undergraduate degree in Natural Sciences, with a concentration in chemistry, from Thomas A. Edison College.
“We are very pleased to welcome Joe to Alexza and to our Executive Team,” said Thomas B. King, President and CEO. “The progress of our product candidate pipeline has increased our need to put in place the capabilities required to supply our later stage clinical studies. We look to Joe to lead this important area of our development.”
About Alexza Pharmaceuticals
Alexza is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, proprietary products for the treatment of acute and intermittent conditions. The Company’s technology, the Staccato(R) system, vaporizes unformulated drug compound to form a condensation aerosol that allows rapid systemic drug delivery through deep lung inhalation. The drug is quickly absorbed through the lungs into the bloodstream, providing speed of therapeutic onset that is comparable to intravenous administration, but with greater ease, patient comfort and convenience. The Company has four product candidates in clinical development; AZ-001 (Staccato prochlorperazine) for the acute treatment of migraine headaches, AZ-002 (Staccato alprazolam) for the acute treatment of panic attacks associated with panic disorder, AZ-004 (Staccato loxapine) for the treatment of acute agitation in patients with schizophrenia and AZ-003 (Staccato fentanyl) for the treatment of patients with acute pain.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding growth of the Company’s product candidate pipeline and development of the Company’s product candidates. Any statement describing the Company’s expectations or beliefs is a forward-looking statement, as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and should be considered an at-risk statement. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the process of developing and commercializing drugs. The Company’s forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they prove incorrect, would cause its results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These and other risks concerning the Company’s business are described in additional detail in the Company’s Form S-1 dated March 8, 2006, and the Company’s Quarterly and Current Reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Thomas B. King, President and CEO of Alexza Pharmaceuticals,Inc., +1-650-687-3900, or tking@alexza.com
Web site: http://www.alexza.com/
