EMERYVILLE, California and BRISBANE, Australia, 18 August 2008: Peplin, Inc. (ASX:PLI) announced today that Tom Wiggans has been appointed Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. Mr Wiggans is currently Chairman of Peplin’s board of directors and will also continue in that role.
Prior to joining Peplin, Tom Wiggans served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Connetics Corporation, one of the leading dermatology companies in the United States. Mr Wiggans left this role in December 2006 when Connetics was acquired by Stiefel Laboratories.
“I accepted the Chairman’s role last year because I was very impressed with what the company had achieved to-date and the great deal of potential in its lead compound PEP005,” said Mr Wiggans. “In the past year there has been momentum building in the development of PEP005 as the company’s clinical trial program enters Phase III. I look forward to working with the excellent team at Peplin in both Australia and the United States to take the company to the next stage of the development of PEP005 and its commercialisation.”
In addition, Eugene Bauer M.D. has been appointed President and Chief Medical Officer. Dr Bauer was most recently Chief Executive Officer of Neosil Corporation, which has entered into a merger agreement with Peplin. In the role of President and Chief Medical Officer he will be a member of the executive management team, and will be responsible for medical affairs, strategy and communications with key professional constituencies in the U.S. Dr Bauer is currently a non-executive director and will continue as an executive director. Director and former Chairman Dr Cherrell Hirst said that these appointments were valuable additions to the Peplin executive team as the Company moves into Phase III clinical trials for its lead product PEP005 (ingenol mebutate) for AK.
“Tom and Gene bring additional proven experience to Peplin’s existing management team in the development and commercialisation of drug candidates in dermatology,” Dr Hirst said. “In conjunction with the a very strong cash position following today’s announcement of a US$24m capital raising and completion of enrolment in our 240 patient phase IIb US and Australian clinical trial in actinic (solar) keratosis (AK), Peplin is well placed to continue the development of lead product PEP005 (ingenol mebutate) for AK through Phase III trials and towards commercialisation.”
