Unigene Completes Executive Management Team and Names Jenene D. Thomas, VP of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
BOONTON, N.J., Nov 23, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE), a leader in the design, delivery, manufacture and development of peptide-based therapeutics, announced today the appointment of Jenene D. Thomas to the newly created position of Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Ms. Thomas will report directly to Unigene's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ashleigh Palmer. Her appointment is effective immediately.
Mr. Palmer stated, "We have reached a critical inflection point where we have identified our strategic imperatives, have established strong business fundamentals and are now prepared and focused on executing our strategy and delivering results." Palmer continued, "Jenene completes our new executive team, and her extensive network and expertise in investor relations and corporate communications will be invaluable to Unigene. She brings a successful track record with well over a decade of creating and executing comprehensive, global communications programs and increasing corporate visibility among multiple key audiences including investors, potential partners and media."
"I am thrilled to be joining Unigene at this exciting time in the Company's evolution. With a clear, focused strategy and tremendous expertise at the helm, the Company is now prepared to build a solid foundation and greatly expand its external focus, both in terms of business development and for the purposes of reaching all stakeholders," commented Ms. Thomas. "I look forward to making significant contributions to this momentum and am committed to establishing a solid reputation with investors, and playing an integral role in increasing the Company's profile and recognition more broadly."
Ms. Thomas brings to Unigene extensive investor relations and corporate communications experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, both in public and private companies. Ms. Thomas joins Unigene from Amicus Therapeutics, where she served as Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Prior to Amicus, she was the CEO and President of JDT Communications where she provided investor relations and corporate communications counsel and created fully integrated communications plans for companies including Enzon Pharmaceuticals and Regado Biosciences. Previously, Ms. Thomas served as Senior Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Aeterna Zentaris. As the company's first U.S. employee, Ms. Thomas rapidly established broad awareness in the U.S. with analysts and other stakeholders in the financial community. She also held investor relations positions of increasing responsibility at Savient Pharmaceuticals, Reliant Pharmaceuticals and Pharmacia Corporation.
About Unigene Laboratories, Inc.
Unigene Laboratories, Inc. is a leader in the design, delivery, manufacture and development of peptide-based therapeutics. The Company is building a robust portfolio of proprietary partnerships in this expanding drug class based on its Peptelligence(TM) platform. Peptelligence encompasses extensive intellectual property covering delivery and manufacturing technologies, unsurpassed research and development expertise, and proprietary know-how representing a genuine distinctive competence. Core Peptelligence assets include proprietary oral and nasal peptide delivery technologies, and proprietary, high-yield, scalable and reproducible E. coli-based manufacturing technologies.
Unigene's technologies have extensive clinical and partner validation. The Company's first product to market, Fortical(R), a nasal calcitonin product, received FDA approval in 2005 and is marketed in the U.S. by Upsher-Smith for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis. Pivotal clinical programs include an oral calcitonin licensed to Tarsa Therapeutics, now in Phase 3 testing for the treatment of osteoporosis. Other validating relationships include an oral parathyroid hormone nearing Phase 2 and licensed to GlaxoSmithKline. In addition, Unigene has a manufacturing license agreement with Novartis, which is completing three Phase 3 studies of oral calcitonin for the treatment of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.
For more information about Unigene, please visit http://www.unigene.com. For information about Fortical, please visit http://www.fortical.com.
Safe Harbor statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including with respect to clinical studies of one of our licensees. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors. These known and unknown risk factors include, but are not limited to: the delay in obtaining or the failure to obtain regulatory approvals for our products and the products of our licensees that may generate royalty and milestone payments to us, our ability to achieve product sales and royalties, competition, our dependence on other companies to commercialize, manufacture and sell products using our technologies, the ability of our products to gain market acceptance and increase market share, the uncertainty of results of animal and human testing, the risk of product liability and liability for human clinical trials, our dependence on patents and other proprietary rights and the risks associated with patent litigation, dependence on key management officials, the availability and cost of capital, the availability of qualified personnel, changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental regulations, general economic and business conditions, our history of losses and ability to achieve profitability, litigation and other risk factors discussed in our Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "potential," "continue," and variations of these words (or negatives of these words) or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, contingencies, goals, targets or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements and are not statements of historical fact. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we are under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
SOURCE: Unigene Laboratories, Inc.
Unigene Laboratories, Inc.Jenene Thomas, 973-265-1100, ext. 214VP, Investor Relations and Corporate [email protected] McClellanMedia:Justin Jackson, [email protected]:Michelle Szwarcberg, [email protected]