SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France, May 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NicOx S.A. (Euronext Paris: COX) today announced that Damian Marron, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, will be leaving the company on May 30th to become Chief Executive Officer of an early clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. Damian’s responsibilities will be assumed by Sanjiv Sharma, Vice President Commercial Affairs and Gavin Spencer, Senior Director Business Development.
Michele Garufi, Chairman and CEO of NicOx, commented: “Since joining NicOx in 2002, Damian has made a great contribution to the growth and success of the Company, during which time we have advanced our lead compound naproxcinod into an extensive phase 3 clinical trial program and signed significant collaborative agreements with both Pfizer and Merck, amongst others. Damian has helped to establish a strong corporate development team, which will focus on the next phase of NicOx’ development as a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. We wish Damian every success in this exciting new opportunity with his new company.”
Damian Marron said: “It has been a privilege to work at NicOx. During my six years, I have gained invaluable experience and have had the opportunity to broaden my skills such that I have now been offered this great opportunity to lead a biotechnology company. NicOx has established itself as one of Europe’s leading biotechnology companies with a highly promising lead product and excellent relationships in the pharmaceutical industry. With a first rate management team in place to execute NicOx’ strategy of becoming an integrated pharmaceutical company, I believe this is an excellent time to move on to the new challenge of the role of CEO.”
NicOx (Bloomberg: COX:FP, Reuters: NCOX.PA) a product-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and future commercialization of investigational drugs for unmet medical needs. NicOx is applying its proprietary nitric oxide-donating technology to develop an internal portfolio of New Chemical Entities (NCEs) in the therapeutic areas of inflammatory and cardio-metabolic disease.
Resources are focused on the development of naproxcinod, a proprietary NCE and the first compound in the Cyclooxygenase-Inhibiting Nitric Oxide-Donating (CINOD) class of anti-inflammatory agents, which is in phase 3 clinical studies for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, with final phase 3 results anticipated in 2008.
Beyond naproxcinod, NicOx has a pipeline containing multiple nitric oxide-donating NCEs, which are in development internally and with partners, including Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co., Inc., for the treatment of prevalent and underserved diseases, such as atherosclerosis, hypertension, glaucoma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
NicOx S.A. is headquartered in France and is listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (Compartment B: Mid Caps).
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes its expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.
For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of NicOx S.A. to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors (“Facteurs de Risque”) section of the Document de Reference filed with the AMF, which is available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on NicOx S.A.'s website (http://www.nicox.com).
Source: NicOx S.A.
