CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--POZEN Inc. (NASDAQ: POZN), a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transforms lives, announces the selection of Keelin Reeds LLC to assist in the strategic partner search for PA32540, currently in late Phase 3 development. Keelin Reeds is a global expert in helping life sciences companies value assets, develop business development strategies and execute partnership transactions.
"With the NDA program on schedule for submission in the second half of next year, and as we will be initiating our submission discussions with regulators in other key territories, we believe it is time to launch the search for the best commercial partner to maximize the sales potential for PA32540,” said John R. Plachetka, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of POZEN. “Keelin Reeds is the firm best suited to help us find the ideal partner. We have added substantial value to this asset by executing the critical NDA development and pre-commercialization phases, and now it is our intention to secure a relationship with one or more strategic partners in order to maximize the sales potential of PA32540, both in the United States and globally.”
“The ideal strategic partner for PA32540 is one who embraces our philosophy of affordable pricing and shares our vision for the therapeutic use and advantages of the brand,” said Liz Cermak, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at POZEN. “In addition, the right partner will have a strategic fit for the product, demonstrated success selling in the cardiovascular field, and will allow POZEN to participate as a true partner in the US while handling all commercial activities elsewhere. By mid-2012, we will have completed all foundational market research and branding, positioning and innovative commercial strategy work for PA32540, and look forward to bringing these critical assets to the partnership.”
About POZEN
POZEN Inc. is a progressive pharmaceutical company that is transforming how the healthcare industry addresses unmet medical needs. By utilizing a unique in-source model and focusing on integrated therapies, POZEN has successfully developed and obtained FDA approval of two self-invented products in two years – something almost no other small pharmaceutical company has done. Funded by these two milestone/royalty streams, POZEN is now creating a portfolio of cost-effective, evidence based integrated aspirin therapies designed to enable the full power of aspirin by reducing its GI damage.
The Company's common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "POZN". For more detailed company information, including copies of this and other press releases, please visit www.pozen.com.
About PA
POZEN is creating a portfolio of integrated aspirin therapies – the PA product platform. The products in the PA portfolio are intended to significantly reduce gastric ulcers compared to taking aspirin alone.
The most advanced product candidate is PA32540. It is a coordinated-delivery tablet combining immediate release omeprazole, a proton pump inhibitor (PPI), layered around an aspirin core with a pH-sensitive coating. This patented product is administered orally once a day and is being investigated for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in patients at risk for aspirin-induced gastric ulcers.
Additionally, POZEN is conducting exploratory work on integrated aspirin therapies for pain and pain-related conditions.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements included in this press release that are not historical in nature are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You should be aware that our actual results could differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements, which are based on current market data and research (including third party and POZEN sponsored market studies and reports), management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, our failure to successfully commercialize our product candidates; costs and delays in the development and/or FDA approval of our product candidates, including as a result of the need to conduct additional studies, or the failure to obtain such approval of our product candidates, including as a result of changes in regulatory standards or the regulatory environment during the development period of any of our product candidates; uncertainties in clinical trial results or the timing of such trials, resulting in, among other things, an extension in the period over which we recognize deferred revenue or our failure to achieve milestones that would have provided us with revenue; our inability to maintain or enter into, and the risks resulting from our dependence upon, collaboration or contractual arrangements necessary for the development, manufacture, commercialization, marketing, sales and distribution of any products, including our dependence on GlaxoSmithKline for the sales and marketing of Treximet® and our dependence on AstraZeneca for the sales and marketing of VIMOVO™; competitive factors; our inability to protect our patents or proprietary rights and obtain necessary rights to third party patents and intellectual property to operate our business; our inability to operate our business without infringing the patents and proprietary rights of others; general economic conditions; the failure of any products to gain market acceptance; our inability to obtain any additional required financing; technological changes; government regulation; changes in industry practice; and one-time events, including those discussed herein and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2011. We do not intend to update any of these factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.