Vienna, Austria / King of Prussia, PA, October 14, 2015 – Nabriva Therapeutics AG (NASDAQ:NBRV), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of novel anti-infective agents to treat serious infections, with a focus on the pleuromutilin class of antibiotics, today announced the appointment of Will Sargent as Vice President, Commercial Strategy and Investor Relations, a newly created position. Mr. Sargent will be based at the company's U.S. headquarters in King of Prussia, PA.
"Will brings significant experience and a successful track record from innovative biopharmaceutical companies and we are very pleased to welcome him to Nabriva," said Dr. Colin Broom, Chief Executive Officer of Nabriva. "As Nabriva moves rapidly to proficiently advance our lead product, lefamulin, into pivotal phase III CABP clinical studies, which are expected to begin enrolling in late 2015 and early 2016, Will's strategic focus, experience and breadth of knowledge will help us plan and execute toward our commercial path goals."
"I am excited to join this talented and dedicated team focused on advancing a novel, targeted antibiotic therapy that can impact patients' lives by addressing an unmet medical need," said Mr. Sargent. "I look forward to applying my experience toward the successful development and implementation of the lefamulin commercial strategy and expansion of corporate communications."
Will Sargent
Mr. Sargent will lead development of commercial strategy for the launch of lefamulin for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and corporate communications/investor relations; he will also support the lefamulin development program for additional indications. Mr. Sargent joins Nabriva with two decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, including multiple product and line extension launches. Most recently, he served as Vice President, Orthopedic Business Unit at Auxilium Pharmaceuticals where he led the company's marketing and sales team advancing XIAFLEX® for the treatment of Dupuytren's contracture and development of additional pipeline indications. Prior to his commercial responsibilities, Mr. Sargent built the corporate communications and investor relations capacity at Auxilium, which became a subsidiary of ENDO International in 2015. Before Auxilium, Mr. Sargent was a biotechnology equities analyst at Bank of America and held multiple commercial roles at Amgen and Immunex. At Amgen, he led medical marketing activities for the launch of Enbrel in psoriasis. Mr. Sargent received his Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from the University of Washington.
About Nabriva Therapeutics AG
Nabriva Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of novel anti-infective agents to treat serious bacterial infections, with a focus on the pleuromutilin class of antibiotics. Nabriva's medicinal chemistry expertise has enabled targeted discovery of novel pleuromutilins, including both intravenous and oral formulations of its lead product candidate, lefamulin. Nabriva is developing lefamulin to be the first systemically available pleuromutilin antibiotic for human use. Lefamulin is being developed for the treatment of moderate to severe community acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP). Future studies are planned to evaluate lefamulin for additional anti-infective indications.
About Lefamulin
Nabriva's lead pleuromutilin product candidate, lefamulin, is being developed to be the first systemically available pleuromutilin for human use and is the first new class of antibiotic to reach late stage clinical development for CABP in over a decade. The company expects to begin enrolling patients into the first of its two planned lefamulin Phase 3 CABP clinical studies in the fourth quarter of 2015. Nabriva believes lefamulin is well positioned for use as a first-line empiric monotherapy for the treatment of moderate to severe CABP due to its novel mechanism of action, targeted spectrum of activity, achievement of substantial drug concentration in lung tissue and fluid, oral and IV formulations and favorable tolerability profile. Nabriva also intends to further pursue the development of lefamulin for additional indications, including the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections, and is developing a formulation of lefamulin appropriate for pediatric use.
Nabriva owns exclusive, worldwide rights to lefamulin, which is protected by composition of matter patents issued in the United States, Europe and Japan