27 Mar 2017 07:00
27 March 2017
AIM: AMYT
ESM: AYP
Amryt Pharma plc
("Amryt" or the "Company")
Senior Management Appointment
Amryt, the pharmaceutical company focused on best-in-class treatments for rare and orphan diseases, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Allmond as Chief Commercial Officer in a non-board capacity, with effect from 3 April 2017.
Mr. Allmond is an experienced senior pharmaceutical executive with over 20 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry in commercial roles. He joins the Company from Aegerion Pharmaceuticals where he was President of EMEA and, in particular, involved in the commercialization of LOJUXTA (lomitapide), the drug used to treat Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Amryt acquired the exclusive rights to sell LOJUXTA across the EU and MENA in December 2016 and has been making excellent progress in building out the necessary further infrastructure to support sales expansion.
Prior to Aegerion, Mr. Allmond was Corporate Vice President of Global Marketing for Celgene Corporation where he played a pivotal role in defining strategy for in-line brands, lifecycle/pipeline prioritisation and providing commercial direction for business development. He was previously responsible for EMEA marketing and market access within Celgene. Prior to Celgene, he was Director of Sales and Marketing Effectiveness at Amgen Ltd.
Mr. Allmond succeeds Michele Bellandi who has left the Company and effected a smooth handover. The Board would like to thank Michele for his contribution to the business.
Joe Wiley, CEO of Amryt, commented:
"We are pleased to welcome David to Amryt. His extensive commercial experience and his knowledge of LOJUXTA is particularly helpful as we drive the sales of this drug which we in-licenced in December 2016. David will resume control of the Lojuxta team and is the ideal person to take on responsibility for the commercial development of this business. We remain very excited about the potential to increase the numbers of patients on treatment in existing markets and also to open new markets within our territories.
"David will also take responsibility for the launch preparation for AP101. As recently announced we have obtained regulatory clarity from the FDA and EMA regarding the design of our single pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for AP101 as a potential treatment for Epidermolysis Bullosa ("EB"). We are currently on track to commence this study at the end of March.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Michele for his contribution during an important time in Amryt's development and to wish him well with his future plans."
Enquiries:
Amryt Pharma plc | C/o KTZ Communications |
Joe Wiley, CEO Rory Nealon, CFO/COO | |
Shore Capital | +44 (0) 20 7408 4090 |
Nomad and Joint Broker | |
Bidhi Bhoma, Edward Mansfield | |
Davy | +353 (1) 679 6363 |
ESM Adviser and Joint Broker | |
John Frain, Anthony Farrell | |
Stifel | +44 (0) 20 7710 7600 |
Joint Broker | |
Jonathan Senior, Ben Maddison | |
KTZ Communications | +44 (0) 20 3178 6378 |
Katie Tzouliadis, Emma Pearson |
About Amryt Pharma plc - see www.amrytpharma.com
Amryt Pharma is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and delivering innovative new treatments to help improve the lives of patients with rare or orphan diseases. The Company is building a diversified portfolio of commercially attractive, best-in-class, proprietary new drugs to help address some of these rare and debilitating illnesses for which there are currently no available treatments.
The Company recently acquired an exclusive licence to sell LOJUXTA (lomitapide), across the EU and other territories including the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Israel. LOJUXTA is used to treat a rare life-threatening disease called Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia.
Amryt's product, AP101 (Episalvan), received marketing approval for the treatment of partial-thickness wounds from the European Commission in January 2016. Amryt intends to develop AP101 (Episalvan) as a new treatment for Epidermolysis Bullosa ("EB"), a rare and distressing genetic skin disorder affecting young children for which there is currently no treatment. The Company recently received regulatory clarity from the FDA and the EMA regarding its Phase 3 study of AP101 (Episalvan) in EB, which has been granted US and EU orphan drug designation, and is on track to commence this study towards the end of March 2017. The global market opportunity for EB is estimated to be in excess of EUR 1.3 billion.
Amryt's earlier stage product AP102 is focused on developing novel, next generation somatostatin analogue ("SSA") peptide medicines for patients with rare neuroendocrine diseases, where there is a high unmet medical need, including acromegaly and Cushing's disease. AP102 was recently granted orphan designation in the US in acromegaly by the FDA.
The Company joined AIM and Dublin's ESM in April 2016 following the reverse takeover of Fastnet Equity PLC.