Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Appoints Karen A. Dawes to the Company's Board of Directors
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif., Nov. 3, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Inspiration) today announced the appointment of Karen A. Dawes to the Company's Board of Directors. Ms. Dawes brings to Inspiration over 20 years of healthcare marketing and commercialization experience, including the product launch of the only recombinant factor IX product currently on the market. Ms. Dawes will become the seventh member of Inspiration's Board of Directors.
John Taylor, Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Inspiration, commented, "We are pleased to welcome Karen to our Board of Directors. Her extensive experience in pharmaceutical product development, commercialization and strategic marketing will prove invaluable to Inspiration as the Company continues to advance its lead programs, IB1001 and OBI-1, towards market introduction. Karen's background and experience in the hemophilia market will be very beneficial for a company like ours, which is focused exclusively on innovating in the hemophilia space."
Ms. Dawes is Founder and President of Knowledgeable Decisions, LLC, a biotech and pharmaceuticals consulting company focusing on product development, commercialization and corporate strategies. Previously, she served as Senior Vice President, US Business Group Head, at Bayer Corporation, where she was responsible for the company's anti-infective, oncology, cardiovascular/metabolic and men's health products. Prior to this, Ms. Dawes held management positions of increasing responsibility at Wyeth Corporation, most recently as Senior Vice President, Global Strategic Marketing. During her tenure at Wyeth, she was responsible for the product development, branding, positioning and global optimization of Wyeth's portfolio, including its hematology products. As Vice President of Commercial Operations at Wyeth, Ms. Dawes launched BeneFIX®, currently the only recombinant factor IX product on the market for the treatment of hemophilia B. She also held senior level positions at Pfizer. In addition to Inspiration, Ms. Dawes serves on the Boards of Repligen Corporation, Depomed Inc., and Seaside Therapeutics. She received both BA and MA degrees from Simmons College and an MBA degree from Harvard University.
About Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals
Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals is dedicated exclusively to developing treatments for hemophilia, with a primary mission to broaden access to care, including prophylactic therapy, and improve the treatment of individuals with inhibitor complications. Inspiration has a broad development portfolio, which includes advanced, clinical-stage product candidates for the treatment of hemophilia A and hemophilia B.
Inspiration's lead product candidates are IB1001, an intravenous recombinant factor IX (FIX) for the acute and preventative treatment of bleeding in individuals with hemophilia B, and OBI-1, an intravenous porcine recombinant factor VIII (FVIII) for the treatment of individuals who have developed inhibitors against human FVIII and for individuals with acquired hemophilia A. IB1001 currently is in Phase 3 clinical development, and OBI-1 is expected to begin the first of two pivotal trials later this year. Earlier-stage preclinical programs at Inspiration are focused on human recombinant factor VIIa (FVIIa) for individuals with either hemophilia A or hemophilia B who have developed inhibitors and individuals with factor VII deficiency, and human recombinant FVIII to treat individuals with hemophilia A.
Inspiration's team has extensive expertise and background in hemophilia product development, biologics manufacturing, regulatory approval and global commercialization; the Company's senior leadership was directly responsible for the development and commercialization of the majority of hemophilia products currently on the market. In addition, in January 2010, Inspiration entered into a strategic partnership with Ipsen SA, leveraging the combined expertise and resources of the two companies. For further information on Inspiration, please visit http://www.inspirationbio.com.
SOURCE Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.