Copenhagen, 28 April 2011 - Zealand Pharma announced that Jutta af Rosenborg and Jørgen Lindegaard have been elected as new members to the company’s Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting held today. Christian Herskind Jørgensen will be leaving the Board.
At a board meeting following the Annual General Meeting, the new Board constituted itself with the re-election of Daan Ellens as Chairman and the election of Jørgen Lindegaard as Vice-Chairman.
Commenting on today’s announcement, Daan Ellens, Chairman of Zealand Pharma, said: “We are delighted to welcome Jutta and Jørgen to the Board of Zealand Pharma. They both bring significant experience and competence in the management of public Danish companies, thereby complementing the existing competences of the company’s management very well. The addition of Jutta and Jørgen as new board members is a natural and important step for Zealand Pharma as it completes the transition from a private to a publicly listed company, and I am convinced they will make valuable contributions to the future development of the company. On a similar note, we sincerely thank Christian for his considerable contribution to the evolution of Zealand Pharma to date.”
Commenting on today’s announcement, David Solomon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Zealand Pharma, said: “I am extremely pleased that Jutta and Jørgen have agreed to join the Board of Zealand Pharma. The company has made significant progress in the past year and with a near-term product opportunity in lixisenatide as a new treatment for Type 2 diabetes, the company is entering a new phase with a more commercial profile to which both Jutta and Jørgen can contribute significantly. I look forward to working closely with the Board to ensure the continued success of Zealand Pharma.”
Jørgen Lindegaard
Jørgen Lindegaard is currently a member of the board of directors of ISS Group, Trifina Holding ApS, Trifina Mellemholding ApS and Efsen Engineering A/S. He is Chairman of the Board of Scania of Denmark A/S, AVT Business School A/S, Deducta A/S and K/S Vimmelskaftet 39-41 and Deputy Chairman of the Board of the IT University of Copenhagen. Most recently, Jørgen Lindegaard was Group CEO of the ISS Group from August 2006 to March 2010. He also served as the CEO of SAS AB from May 2001 to May 2006 and previously served as the CEO for GN Store Nord A/S. Jørgen Lindegaard holds a Civil Engineering degree from the Technical University of Denmark.
Jutta af Rosenborg
Jutta af Rosenborg is a member of the board and Chairman of the audit committee of Auriga Industries A/S and has been a member of the board of the investment fund Carnegie WorldWide since 2006. From 2003 to 2010, Jutta af Rosenborg was CFO, Executive Vice President for Finance & IT, and member of the Board of Management of the ALK-Abelló A/S group. Jutta af Rosenborg has previously filled managerial positions at e.g. Deloitte’s auditing and consultancy department, before she was appointed Vice President Group Accounting at Chr. Hansen Holding A/S in 2000. Jutta af Rosenborg qualified as a state-authorised public accountant in 1992 and earned an MSc in Business Administration and Auditing from Copenhagen Business School in 1987.
For further information, please contact:
Zealand Pharma
David Solomon, President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +45 4328 1200
Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President, Head of IR and Corporate Communications
Tel: +45 8877 3689
Mobile: +45 5060 3689
M:Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott / Emma Thompson / Amber Bielecka / Ulf Martensson
Tel: +44 20 7920 2330 / +46 8 407 22 43
About Zealand Pharma
Zealand Pharma A/S is a public (NASDAQ OMX: ZEAL) Scandinavian based biopharmaceutical company with a mature and growing clinical pipeline of innovative peptide drugs. The company’s lead product candidate is a once-daily GLP-1 in late-stage Phase III development for the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in collaboration with sanofi-aventis. Zealand Pharma also has several other collaboration and licensing partnerships, including a license agreement with Helsinn Healthcare on a clinical stage GLP-2 drug for the treatment of Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy Induced Diarrhoea. Zealand Pharma has unique expertise in peptide discovery and optimization and in the development of novel peptide drugs with favourable therapeutic attributes. The company targets metabolic (diabetes and obesity), gastrointestinal and cardiovascular diseases, where existing treatments fail to adequately serve patient needs and where the market potential for improved treatments through the use of peptide drugs is high. All of Zealand Pharma’s product candidates have been identified through the company’s own drug discovery activities. The company is headquartered in Copenhagen and has approximately 90 employees. For more information please visit www.zealandpharma.com.
