Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Appoints Glenn Noronha, Ph.D., as Vice President, Research and Development
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Silvia Taylor, 1-240-223-3718orKate de Santis, 1-240-223-3834
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMP) today announced that Glenn Noronha, Ph.D., has joined Sucampo Pharma Americas, LLC (SPA) as Vice President of Research and Development, reporting to Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Chairman, Chief Scientific Officer and Chief Executive Officer. He will assist with strengthening and leading Sucampo’s U.S. R&D functions. Dr. Noronha is responsible for the development of the overall product portfolio from research through approval.
Dr. Noronha also was named to Sucampo's Global R&D Leadership Team, which is headed by Dr. Ueno, and includes: Taryn Joswick, Vice President, Clinical Development of SPA; Birgit Roerig, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmacology and Toxicology at SPA; Peter Lichtlen, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Medical Officer and Vice President, European Operations, of Sucampo AG (SAG); Takashi Sekida, Ph.D., Vice President, Research Planning & Business Development, at Sucampo Pharma, Ltd. (SPL); and Gayle Dolecek, P.D., M.P.H., Executive Advisor, R&D Affairs, SPA. SPA, SAG and SPL are wholly-owned subsidiaries of SPI.
Dr. Ueno said, “We welcome Dr. Noronha to Sucampo and look forward to his contributions in strengthening our expertise, particularly in ophthalmology as we prepare for the launch of RESCULA. His extensive drug development experiences, from preclinical to clinical, and knowledge of ophthalmology, oncology, and immune and inflammatory mediated diseases will add great value to our R&D pipeline for new indications of our prostone-based products AMITIZA and RESCULA, as well as to other compounds based on our proprietary prostone technology. Additionally, Sucampo will benefit from his experience of taking research findings into the clinic.”
Dr. Noronha joins Sucampo from , Inc., a pharmaceutical company focused on new drug research and development, which he joined in July 2011 as Chief Scientific Officer, responsible for translational efforts in the oncology therapeutic area. At JW Theriac, he successfully identified and proposed opportunities for research and innovation along with the assessment of risks and technical hurdles. Prior to JW Theriac, Dr. Noronha had leadership roles in Retina Development at , now part of Novartis, from November 2008 to July 2011, with global responsibilities for planning and executing all stages of retina development, including working with clinical, regulatory, scientific, non-clinical and technical colleagues for both small molecules and biologics. Previously, from June 2002 to July 2008, Dr. Noronha worked at TargeGen, Inc., now acquired by , and held several positions of increasing responsibility, among them Senior Scientist, Group Leader and Director. At TargeGen, he delivered three of the five small molecule candidates into development that were entered into clinical trials; one small molecule candidate resulted in successful phase 2 results. Dr. Noronha earned his Ph.D. in Organometallic Chemistry from Loyola University Chicago and conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California, Irvine in protein structural and bio-organic chemistry. Dr. Noronha is a member of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) and is named on 21 composition of matter and use patents for drugs in ophthalmology, oncology, immune and inflammatory diseases and in continuous glucose sensing. He is the author of more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and more than 70 scientific presentations at national and international forums.
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a global pharmaceutical company focused on innovative research, discovery, development and commercialization of proprietary drugs based on prostones. The therapeutic potential of prostones, which occur naturally in the human body as a result of enzymatic catalysis by 15-PGDH of eicosanoids and docosanoids, was first identified by Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Sucampo’s Chairman and CEO. Dr. Ueno founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals in 1996 with Sachiko Kuno, Ph.D., founding CEO and currently Executive Advisor, International Business Development, and a member of the Board of Directors. For more information, please visit .
AMITIZA is a registered trademark of Sucampo AG. RESCULA is a registered trademark of R-Tech Ueno, Ltd, and has been licensed to Sucampo.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in the statements. The forward-looking statements may include statements regarding product development, product potential, future financial and operating results, and other statements that are not historical facts. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements: the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and health care legislation; Sucampo's ability to accurately predict future market conditions; dependence on the effectiveness of Sucampo's patents and other protections for innovative products; the risk of new and changing regulation and health policies in the US and internationally and the exposure to litigation and/or regulatory actions.
No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from those projected. Sucampo undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Forward-looking statements in this presentation should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Sucampo's business, particularly those mentioned in the risk factors and cautionary statements in Sucampo's Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2011, which Sucampo incorporates by reference.
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