Biota Pharmaceuticals Announces Appointment of New Executive Officers
November 14 2012 - 07:00AM
Marketwired
Biota Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BOTA) today announced the
appointment of Russell H. Plumb as its Chief Executive Officer and
Joseph M. Patti, M.S.P.H., Ph.D. as Executive Vice President,
Corporate Development & Strategy. Mr. Plumb will also join the
Board of Directors.
"Biota's move to the United States marks the beginning of a
transformative period for the company. With two drugs on the market
and a robust pipeline anchored by laninamivir, Biota represents a
truly unique opportunity and I'm excited to play a role in
maximizing the Company's potential," commented Russell H. Plumb,
Biota Pharmaceuticals Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Plumb previously served as President, Chief Executive
Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Inhibitex, Inc., a U.S.
publicly-traded clinical-stage drug development company, from
December 2006 through February 2012, when it was acquired by
Bristol-Myers Squibb for approximately $2.5 billion. Prior to its
acquisition, Inhibitex had focused its resources in recent years on
developing antiviral, small molecules, including compounds to treat
hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. From 2000 to December 2006, Mr.
Plumb was the Chief Financial Officer of Inhibitex, during which
time he oversaw numerous financing transactions, including the
company's initial public offering in 2004.
Dr. Patti was a co-founder of Inhibitex, and served as Chief
Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and
Development of Inhibitex from 2007 through February 2012. Prior to
that, he served as the Vice President, Preclinical Development and
Chief Scientific Officer of Inhibitex from 1998 to 2007 and Vice
President of Research and Development from 2005 to 2007.
"Russ and Joe are talented and proven executives who bring a
successful track record of leading and operating drug development
companies," said Jim Fox, Chairman of the Board of Directors of
Biota. "I believe that the strong commercial skills exhibited by
Russ and Joe will augment the excellent science of Biota and create
a unique value proposition for our shareholders."
Peter Cook, who resigned as the Chief Executive Officer of Biota
Holdings upon the completion of the previously announced merger
transaction between Biota Holdings Limited and Nabi
Biopharmaceuticals that created Biota Pharmaceuticals, Inc., serves
as a director of the company.
About Biota Biota is a leading
anti-infective drug development company, based in Rockville,
Maryland with key expertise in respiratory diseases, particularly
influenza.
Biota developed its first-in-class neuraminidase inhibitor,
zanamivir, subsequently marketed by GlaxoSmithKline as Relenza™.
Biota research breakthroughs include a series of candidate drugs
aimed at treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) disease and
hepatitis C (HCV) virus infections. Biota also has an advanced
program for the treatment of human rhinovirus (HRV) infection, with
a successfully completed Phase IIb study in asthmatic subjects.
In addition, Biota and Daiichi Sankyo co-own a range of second
generation influenza antivirals, of which the lead product,
laninamivir, is approved and marketed as lnavir® in Japan. Biota
also holds a contract from the U.S. Office of Biomedical Advanced
Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for the advanced
development of laninamivir in the USA.
Relenza™ is a registered trademark of the GlaxoSmithKline group
of companies. Inavir® is registered to Daiichi Sankyo.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements set forth above that are not strictly historical are
forward-looking statements. You can identify these forward-looking
statements because they involve our expectations, intentions,
beliefs, plans, projections, anticipations, or other
characterizations of future events or circumstances. These
forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance
and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements as a result of any number of factors. These factors
include, but are not limited to, risks that are more fully
discussed in Biota's Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for
fiscal year ended December 31, 2011, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
for the quarters ended March 31 and June 30, 2012 and definitive
proxy statement for the stockholders special meeting filed with the
SEC on August 7, 2012, as supplemented by the supplement dated
September 25, 2012, under the captions "Risk Factors" and
"Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and
elsewhere in such documents. We do not undertake to update any of
these forward-looking statements or to announce the results of any
revisions to these forward-looking statements except as required by
law.
Further information Investor/Analyst Enquiries Biota
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Damian Lismore T: +61 3 9915 3721
Media Enquiries Blueprint Life Science Group Hershel Berry
T: +1 415 375 3340 Ext. 102
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