BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc. , a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, announced today the appointment of Mark Reisenauer as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
“Mark brings significant commercial expertise in oncology to Micromet at a time in our corporate development when the profile of our lead programs is emerging and our pipeline is maturing. His experience will be highly valuable in further defining our targeted indications, patient population and regulatory strategy for our clinical stage programs,” commented Christian Itin, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Micromet. “Mark will also strongly impact the development and partnering strategy of our BiTE antibody platform and antibody portfolio and we are looking forward to his contributions to shape the commercial strategy of the company.”
“I am delighted to join Micromet with its unique antibody pipeline and development programs. I am particularly excited by the potential of the BiTE antibody platform which promises to bring a new, efficacious treatment modality to cancer patients,” Mark Reisenauer added. “The clinical responses seen in late stage, refractory NHL patients, and the profound effects MT103 showed on eliminating lymphoma cells from bone marrow indicate a unique product profile, positioning MT103 for use in advanced stage cancer but also potentially as consolidation therapy in patients with a variety of B cell tumors. Another promising compound, adecatumumab, a human antibody targeting EpCAM, was shown to improve the prognosis of breast cancer patients with high levels of EpCAM and may provide a unique approach to fight the recurrence of solid tumors.”
Mark Reisenauer joins Micromet from Abbott, where he was the General Manager of the Oncology Franchise from 2002 to 2006 and most recently Divisional Vice President and General Manager of the Neuroscience franchise. Before joining Abbott, Mark was the Director of Marketing for Breast Cancer (Portfolio Lead) and the Director of Breast Cancer Products at Pharmacia from 1999 to 2002. From 1997 to 1999 Mark was the Associate Director of Oncology Global Marketing at Bristol-Myers Squibb and from 1988 to 1999 held various positions in sales and oncology marketing at Zeneca. Mark holds a BA degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin.
About Micromet, Inc. (www.micromet-inc.com)
Micromet, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Three of its antibodies are in clinical development. MT103 (MEDI-538), the first clinically validated BiTE(R) antibody in Micromet’s product pipeline, is being evaluated in a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. BiTE antibodies represent a new class of antibodies that activate a patient’s own cytotoxic T cells to eliminate cancer cells. Micromet is developing MT103 in collaboration with AstraZeneca’s subsidiary MedImmune, Inc. The second clinical stage antibody is adecatumumab (MT201), a human monoclonal antibody targeting EpCAM expressing tumors. Adecatumumab is being developed by Micromet in collaboration with Merck Serono in a phase 1b clinical trial evaluating MT201 in combination with docetaxel for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. The third clinical stage antibody is D93 (TRC093), a first-in- class humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits angiogenesis and tumor cell growth by binding cleaved collagen. D93, which is currently tested in a phase 1 clinical trial, is licensed to TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is being developed for the treatment of patients with cancer and age-related macular degeneration. In addition, Micromet has established a collaboration with Nycomed for the development and commercialization of MT203, Micromet’s human antibody neutralizing the activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), which has potential applications in the treatment of various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, or multiple sclerosis.
Forward-Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from any future results expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements include the risk that product candidates that appeared promising in early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety and/or efficacy in subsequent clinical trials, the risk that encouraging results from early research, preclinical studies or clinical trials may not be confirmed upon further analysis of the detailed results of such research, preclinical study or clinical trial, the risk that additional information relating to the safety, efficacy or tolerability of our product candidates may be discovered upon further analysis of preclinical or clinical trial data, the risk that we or our collaborators will not obtain approval to market our product candidates, the risks associated with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements, and the risks associated with reliance on collaborators, including MedImmune, Merck Serono, TRACON and Nycomed, for the funding or conduct of further development and commercialization activities relating to our product candidates. You are urged to consider statements that include the words “ongoing”, “may”, “will”, “would”, “could”, “should”, “believes”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential”, “expects”, “suggests”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “intends”, “continues”, “forecast”, “designed”, “goal”, or the negative of those words or other comparable words to be uncertain and forward-looking. These factors and others are more fully discussed in our periodic reports and other filings with the SEC.
Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and, as such, speak only as of the date made. Micromet, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Micromet, Inc.
CONTACT: Company, Christopher Schnittker, SVP & CFO, +1-240-752-1421,christopher.schnittker@micromet-inc.com; Investors, Susan Noonan,+1-212-966-3650, susan@sanoonan.com; Media, Patricia Garrison,+1-917-322-2567, pgarrison@rxir.com
Web site: http://www.micromet-inc.com//
