LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - March 15, 2010) -
Dutch biopharmaceutical company
Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) today
announced
the nomination of Mr. William (Bill) Burns, Mr. James Shannon and Mr.
George
Siber to join its Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board of
Crucell has
nominated Mr. Burns, Mr. Shannon and Mr. Siber as new members of the
Board, to
be presented to Crucell's shareholders at the Company's AGM on June 4,
2010.
"We are delighted to nominate Bill Burns, James Shannon and George
Siber for
positions in Crucell's Supervisory Board. They bring with them a
wealth of
industry and product development experience," says Jan Oosterveld,
Chairman of
the Supervisory Board at Crucell. "The proposition to strengthen our
Supervisory
Board with professionals from our industry of such caliber and
experience is
very exciting. I very much look forward to working closely with all
three of
them to build on our strategic vision of making Crucell a world-
class
biopharmaceutical player and improving the speed to market of our
pipeline
products," says Ronald Brus, Chief Executive Officer at Crucell.
Mr. Burns (1947), a British national, has built a distinguished track
record in
the pharmaceutical industry over the last 40 years. Most recently Mr.
Burns
served as the CEO of the Pharmaceuticals Division of Roche. Mr. Burns
worked at
Roche since 1986, where in 1991 he moved from being Head of Pharma UK to
being
responsible for Global Business Development and Strategic Marketing,
based in
Switzerland. Mr. Burns' responsibilities also included all
international
commercial operations. Mr. Burns joined Roche's Corporate Executive
Committee in
2000 and headed the Pharmaceutical Division of the company worldwide
for 8
years. He stepped down as CEO Pharmaceuticals Division in December 2009.
Prior
to Roche Mr. Burns worked at Beecham Pharmaceuticals where he started
as a
management trainee in 1969. He spent the next 17 years with Beecham in a
variety
of roles of increasing responsibility, based in the UK and Japan. Mr.
Burns
graduated from Strathclyde University, Scotland, with a B.A. (Honours
Degree) in
Business Economics.
Mr. Burns represented Roche on the board of the European
Federation of
Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the
International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA)
and was
Chairman of Interpharma, the Swiss research companies' trade
association. Mr.
Burns has extensive experience in biotechnology and served as a board
member of
Genentech and is currently a member of the Board of Roche Holding AG and
Chugai
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Mr. Shannon (1956), a British national, with over 20 years of
experience in
senior development positions, most recently served as Head of Global
Development
at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel. He joined Sandoz AG in Basel as
Head of
Regulatory Affairs and on the announcement of the merger between Ciba-
Geigy AG
and Sandoz, Mr. Shannon headed the Research & Development integration
office to
create the newly formed Research & Development groups at Novartis.
Following the
successful global integration of the two companies, Mr. Shannon returned
to the
USA to head the Cardiovascular Strategic team of Novartis for the launch
phase
of Diovan, which ultimately became Novartis' largest product.
Subsequently he
held a number of other senior development positions at Novartis
ultimately
leading to his appointment as Head of Global Development in 2005. Mr.
Shannon
retired from Novartis in 2008. Before joining Novartis, Mr. Shannon held
various
senior positions in clinical and product development at Sterling Winthrop
Inc.
and was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development for Sterling
during the
alliance with Sanofi which saw the late stage development of
clopidogrel and
irbesartan. He left shortly after the acquisition of Sterling by
Sanofi in
1994. Mr. Shannon started his professional career with approximately seven
years
in clinical practice, after finishing his medical studies in Ireland
and his
undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from Queens University, Belfast,
where
he trained in medicine and cardiology.
Mr. Shannon has been involved in the development and registration of
many
successful medicines, including Diovan, Tekturna®, Gleevec®,
Femara®,
Zometa®, Aclasta, Xolair®, and Plavix®. At present Mr. Shannon
holds the
position of President and CEO of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and serves
on the
Boards of Arch Therapeutics; Endocyte Inc; Mannkind Corporation and
Xanodyne
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Siber (1944), an American national, is regarded to be one of the
leading
global authorities in vaccines. Mr. Siber completed his medical degree at
McGill
University in Canada. From 1970 to 1975, Mr. Siber went through
intensive
medical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Rush
Medical
Center in Chicago and Beth Israel and Children's Hospital at Harvard
Medical
School in Boston. Mr. Siber has extensive drug development experience
and has
been developing vaccines since his days in the public health service, a
career
of 35 years (post academic work). Previously Mr. Siber was the Executive
Vice
President and Chief Scientific Officer of Wyeth Vaccines. Prior to
joining
Wyeth, Mr. Siber was Director of the Massachusetts Public Health
Biologic
Laboratories and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Medicine at
Dana
Farber Cancer Institute. At Wyeth, Mr. Siber has overseen vaccine
research and
development for 10 years. Products developed under his leadership at
Wyeth
include Acel-Immune, RotaShield®, Meningitec®, Prevenar 7, Prevenar
13, and
FluMist®, in collaboration with MedImmune. Additionally,
while in
Massachusetts, Mr. Siber led the research, the development, and the
approval of
CytoGam® (CMV Immune Globulin) and RespiGam® (RSV Immune Globulin),
both
marketed by MedImmune. RespiGam® is the precursor product to
Synagis®, the
first monoclonal antibody to an infectious disease.
Mr. Siber currently serves on numerous advisory committees including
those of
the PATH's Pneumococcal Vaccine Project, the Malaria Vaccine
Initiative, the
Gates Maternal Immunization Program, the Stop TB Task Force and the
Scientific
Advisory Board of several vaccine companies, including Novartis
Vaccines and
Diagnostics, LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Variation Biosciences. Mr.
Siber
was named to the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Council in
2010. Mr. Siber is currently serving as Executive Chairman of
Genocea
Biosciences and as Non-executive Director of Selecta Biosciences, Inc.,
both in
Boston.
About Crucell
Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on research development, production and marketing of vaccines, proteins and antibodies that prevent and/or treat infectious diseases. Its vaccines are sold in public and private markets worldwide. Crucell's core portfolio includes a vaccine against hepatitis B, a fully-liquid vaccine against five important childhood diseases and a virosome-adjuvanted vaccine against influenza. Crucell also markets travel vaccines, such as the only oral anti-typhoid vaccine, an oral cholera vaccine and the only aluminum-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The Company has a broad development pipeline, with several product candidates based on its unique PER.C6® production technology. The Company licenses its PER.C6® technology and other technologies to the biopharmaceutical industry. Important partners and licensees include Johnson & Johnson, DSM Biologics, sanofi-aventis, Novartis, Wyeth, GSK, CSL and Merck & Co. Crucell is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands, with subsidiaries in Argentina, China, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and the USA. The Company employs over 1200 people. For more information, please visit www.crucell.com.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. For information relating to these factors please refer to our Form 20-F, as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on April 22, 2009, in the section entitled 'Risk Factors'. The Company prepares its financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
For further information please contact Crucell:
Oya Yavuz
Vice President Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Tel. +31 (0)71 519 7064
[HUG#1393719]
