Crucell's Supervisory Board Nominates Mr. W. Burns, Mr. J. Shannon and Mr. G. Siber as New Board Members
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Leiden, the Netherlands (15 March, 2010) - Dutch biopharmaceutical company
Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) today announced
the nomination of Mr. William (Bill) Burns, Mr. James Shannon and Mr. George
Siber to join its Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board of Crucell has
nominated Mr. Burns, Mr. Shannon and Mr. Siber as new members of the Board, to
be presented to Crucell's shareholders at the Company's AGM on June 4, 2010.
"We are delighted to nominate Bill Burns, James Shannon and George Siber for
positions in Crucell's Supervisory Board. They bring with them a wealth of
industry and product development experience," says Jan Oosterveld, Chairman of
the Supervisory Board at Crucell. "The proposition to strengthen our Supervisory
Board with professionals from our industry of such caliber and experience is
very exciting. I very much look forward to working closely with all three of
them to build on our strategic vision of making Crucell a world-class
biopharmaceutical player and improving the speed to market of our pipeline
products," says Ronald Brus, Chief Executive Officer at Crucell.
Mr. Burns (1947), a British national, has built a distinguished track record in
the pharmaceutical industry over the last 40 years. Most recently Mr. Burns
served as the CEO of the Pharmaceuticals Division of Roche. Mr. Burns worked at
Roche since 1986, where in 1991 he moved from being Head of Pharma UK to being
responsible for Global Business Development and Strategic Marketing, based in
Switzerland. Mr. Burns' responsibilities also included all international
commercial operations. Mr. Burns joined Roche's Corporate Executive Committee in
2000 and headed the Pharmaceutical Division of the company worldwide for 8
years. He stepped down as CEO Pharmaceuticals Division in December 2009. Prior
to Roche Mr. Burns worked at Beecham Pharmaceuticals where he started as a
management trainee in 1969. He spent the next 17 years with Beecham in a variety
of roles of increasing responsibility, based in the UK and Japan. Mr. Burns
graduated from Strathclyde University, Scotland, with a B.A. (Honours Degree) in
Business Economics.
Mr. Burns represented Roche on the board of the European Federation of
Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) and the International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) and was
Chairman of Interpharma, the Swiss research companies' trade association. Mr.
Burns has extensive experience in biotechnology and served as a board member of
Genentech and is currently a member of the Board of Roche Holding AG and Chugai
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Mr. Shannon (1956), a British national, with over 20 years of experience in
senior development positions, most recently served as Head of Global Development
at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel. He joined Sandoz AG in Basel as Head of
Regulatory Affairs and on the announcement of the merger between Ciba-Geigy AG
and Sandoz, Mr. Shannon headed the Research & Development integration office to
create the newly formed Research & Development groups at Novartis. Following the
successful global integration of the two companies, Mr. Shannon returned to the
USA to head the Cardiovascular Strategic team of Novartis for the launch phase
of Diovan, which ultimately became Novartis' largest product. Subsequently he
held a number of other senior development positions at Novartis ultimately
leading to his appointment as Head of Global Development in 2005. Mr. Shannon
retired from Novartis in 2008. Before joining Novartis, Mr. Shannon held various
senior positions in clinical and product development at Sterling Winthrop Inc.
and was Senior Vice President of Clinical Development for Sterling during the
alliance with Sanofi which saw the late stage development of clopidogrel and
irbesartan. He left shortly after the acquisition of Sterling by Sanofi in
1994. Mr. Shannon started his professional career with approximately seven years
in clinical practice, after finishing his medical studies in Ireland and his
undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from Queens University, Belfast, where
he trained in medicine and cardiology.
Mr. Shannon has been involved in the development and registration of many
successful medicines, including Diovan, Tekturna(®), Gleevec(®), Femara(®),
Zometa(®), Aclasta, Xolair(®), and Plavix(®). At present Mr. Shannon holds the
position of President and CEO of Cerimon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and serves on the
Boards of Arch Therapeutics; Endocyte Inc; Mannkind Corporation and Xanodyne
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Mr. Siber (1944), an American national, is regarded to be one of the leading
global authorities in vaccines. Mr. Siber completed his medical degree at McGill
University in Canada. From 1970 to 1975, Mr. Siber went through intensive
medical training in internal medicine and infectious diseases at Rush Medical
Center in Chicago and Beth Israel and Children's Hospital at Harvard Medical
School in Boston. Mr. Siber has extensive drug development experience and has
been developing vaccines since his days in the public health service, a career
of 35 years (post academic work). Previously Mr. Siber was the Executive Vice
President and Chief Scientific Officer of Wyeth Vaccines. Prior to joining
Wyeth, Mr. Siber was Director of the Massachusetts Public Health Biologic
Laboratories and Harvard Medical School Associate Professor of Medicine at Dana
Farber Cancer Institute. At Wyeth, Mr. Siber has overseen vaccine research and
development for 10 years. Products developed under his leadership at Wyeth
include Acel-Immune, RotaShield(®), Meningitec(®), Prevenar 7, Prevenar 13, and
FluMist(®), in collaboration with MedImmune. Additionally, while in
Massachusetts, Mr. Siber led the research, the development, and the approval of
CytoGam(®) (CMV Immune Globulin) and RespiGam(®) (RSV Immune Globulin), both
marketed by MedImmune. RespiGam(®) is the precursor product to Synagis(®), the
first monoclonal antibody to an infectious disease.
Mr. Siber currently serves on numerous advisory committees including those of
the PATH's Pneumococcal Vaccine Project, the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the
Gates Maternal Immunization Program, the Stop TB Task Force and the Scientific
Advisory Board of several vaccine companies, including Novartis Vaccines and
Diagnostics, LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Variation Biosciences. Mr. Siber
was named to the National Advisory Allergy and Infectious Diseases Council in
2010. Mr. Siber is currently serving as Executive Chairman of Genocea
Biosciences and as Non-executive Director of Selecta Biosciences, Inc., both in
Boston.
About Crucell
Crucell N.V. (NYSE Euronext, NASDAQ: CRXL; Swiss Exchange: CRX) is a global
biopharmaceutical company focused on research development, production and
marketing of vaccines, proteins and antibodies that prevent and/or treat
infectious diseases. Its vaccines are sold in public and private markets
worldwide. Crucell's core portfolio includes a vaccine against hepatitis B, a
fully-liquid vaccine against five important childhood diseases and a
virosome-adjuvanted vaccine against influenza. Crucell also markets travel
vaccines, such as the only oral anti-typhoid vaccine, an oral cholera vaccine
and the only aluminum-free hepatitis A vaccine on the market. The Company has a
broad development pipeline, with several product candidates based on its unique
PER.C6(®) production technology. The Company licenses its PER.C6(®) technology
and other technologies to the biopharmaceutical industry. Important partners and
licensees include Johnson & Johnson, DSM Biologics, sanofi-aventis, Novartis,
Wyeth, GSK, CSL and Merck & Co. Crucell is headquartered in Leiden, the
Netherlands, with subsidiaries in Argentina, China, Italy, Korea, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, UK and the USA. The Company employs over 1200 people. For more
information, please visit www.crucell.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent
risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may
cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such
forward-looking statements. For information relating to these factors please
refer to our Form 20-F, as filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission
on April 22, 2009, in the section entitled 'Risk Factors'. The Company prepares
its financial statements under International Financial Reporting Standards
(IFRS).
For further information please contact Crucell:
Oya Yavuz
Vice President Corporate Communications & Investor Relations
Tel. +31 (0)71 519 7064
www.crucell.com
[HUG#1393719]
PDF file: http://hugin.info/132631/R/1393719/350775.pdf
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Datum: 15.03.2010 - 02:46 Uhr
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