PVG.L Regulatory News (PVG)

7 Apr 2005 07:00

Ark Therapeutics Group PLC07 April 2005 ARK THERAPEUTICS PLC STRENGHTENS R&D MANAGEMENT TEAM APPOINTMENT OF Dr DAVID ECKLAND 7 April 2005, London UK: Ark Therapeutics Group plc ("Ark" or the "Company"),the emerging healthcare group, today announces the appointment of Dr DavidEckland as Head of Research and Drug development. Dr Eckland's appointmentfollows Dr Alan Boyd's decision to move to a part-time role in Ark Therapeuticsfocusing on the strategic regulatory and drug approvals, with immediate effect. David has spent the last 8 years at Takeda Europe, a new European developmentcentre in London for Takeda, one of Japan's largest pharmaceutical companies.He was until recently Managing Director of Takeda Europe R&D Centre, a positionhe took up in 2002. In this role, David was responsible for over 70 staff, andthe clinical and regulatory development of approximately 15 products. Prior tothis David was European Development Director for Takeda and created a ClinicalDevelopment Organisation to support the regulatory process in Europe. Before joining Takeda, David spent 7 years at GlaxoWellcome holding thepositions of International Director of Metabolic Diseases Clinical Research, andHead of the Clinical Pharmacology Unit and Head of Department of ClinicalPharmaco Dynamics. His work focused on both the pre-clinical, clinical scienceand the regulatory orientated clinical trials. David holds a PhD inEndocrinology and, as a physician, specialised in Endocrinology, Diabetes andGeneral Internal Medicine. Commenting on his appointment, Dr Nigel Parker, CEO of Ark, said: "I amdelighted to welcome David and that Alan has decided to retain a part-time roleat Ark Therapeutics. As our lead products progress through late stage trialsand the regulatory processes, the recruitment of world class R&D management iskey to the Company's continued success. David's extensive medical and R&Dexperience will be invaluable to Ark as we further progress our pipeline. Alanwill continue to provide key input for the R&D department on an ongoing basis." ENDS Enquiries: Ark Therapeutics Tel: 0207 388 7722Nigel Parker, CEOFinancial Dynamics Tel: 0207 831 3113Lucy Briggs Ark Therapeutics Group plc Ark is an emerging specialist healthcare group (the "Group") with one marketedproduct and four further lead products in late stage clinical development.Capitalising on over ten years of research in vascular biology and gene-basedmedicine, Ark has a balanced portfolio of proprietary healthcare productstargeted at specific unmet clinical needs predominantly with within vasculardisease and cancer. These are large and growing markets, where opportunitiesexist for effective new products to generate significant revenues. Ark's products are sourced from related but largely non-dependent technologieswithin the Group and have been selected to enable Ark to take each productthrough development and to benefit from Orphan Drug Status and/or Fast TrackDesignation, as appropriate. The Group generally retains ownership of itsproduct candidates throughout clinical development and intends to conduct it'sown sales and marketing in certain territories as well as securing marketingpartners in others. The Group has operations in London, UK and Kuopio, Finland. Ark's shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange (AKT.L). This announcement includes "forward-looking statements" which include allstatements other than statements of historical facts, including, withoutlimitation, those regarding the Group's financial position, business strategy,plans and objectives of management for future operations (including developmentplans and objectives relating to the Group's products and services), and anystatements preceded by, followed by or that include forward-looking terminologysuch as the words "targets", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "aims","intends", "will", "can", "may", "anticipates", "would", "should", "could" orsimilar expressions or the negative thereof. Such forward-looking statementsinvolve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factorsbeyond the Group's control that could cause the actual results, performance orachievements of the Group to be materially different from future results,performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-lookingstatements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptionsregarding the Group's present and future business strategies and the environmentin which the Group will operate in the future. Among the important factors thatcould cause the Group's actual results, performance or achievements to differmaterially from those in forward-looking statements include those relating toArk's funding requirements, regulatory approvals, clinical trials, reliance onthird parties, intellectual property, key personnel and other factors. Theseforward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. TheGroup expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate anyupdates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in thisannouncement to reflect any change in the Group's expectations with regardthereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any suchstatements are based. As a result of these factors, prospective investors arecautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange