CHAPEL HILL, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--POZEN Inc. (NASDAQ: POZN), a pharmaceutical company committed to transforming medicine that transform lives, today announced the appointment of Mark N. Matthews as Vice President of Marketing and Sales. Mr. Matthews will be responsible for driving the commercial strategy for all pipeline products beginning with POZEN’s lead product candidate, PA32540, a coordinated-delivery tablet of enteric-coated aspirin and immediate-release omeprazole. This novel, patented oral product is currently in Phase 3 clinical development in the U.S. with New Drug Application (NDA) submission scheduled for 2012.
“Mark’s addition to the team represents another step forward for POZEN toward commercialization,” said Liz Cermak, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of POZEN. “He shares POZEN’s philosophy about transforming the way new medicines are marketed to physicians, patients and managed care. He is well versed in the use of digital media, which we believe will become the cornerstone of pharmaceutical promotion replacing the inefficient sales rep model currently in use.”
Mobile and digital communications are changing the way healthcare professionals and patients receive health information. POZEN plans to take advantage of these trends and make cutting-edge customer communications a core driver of its commercial model. POZEN believes this will enable the company to engage in more meaningful dialogues with physicians, payers and patients, in cost-effective ways previously not possible.
POZEN is developing a portfolio of integrated aspirin therapies across a number of indications. Using the same proprietary technology proven in VIMOVO™ (naproxen and esomeprazole magnesium) delayed release tablets, to provide the coordinated release of a proton pump inhibitor (PPI) and aspirin, the products in the PA portfolio are designed to enable the full power of aspirin by reducing its gastrointestinal (GI) toxicity.
“Gastrointestinal toxicity is the most common therapy limiting adverse event associated with aspirin. We believe that an integrated aspirin therapy product would be a valuable treatment option for the millions of patients with cardiovascular disease who are at risk of developing gastric ulcers,” said Dr. John Plachetka, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of POZEN. “Bringing in experienced leaders such as Mark is critical to our strategic plan to bring our products to market in innovative, cost-efficient ways to deliver affordable medicines to those who need them most.”
Prior to joining POZEN, Mr. Matthews held several key commercial positions, including Vice President of Marketing and Sales, Javelin Pharmaceuticals, and Vice President of Neurology Marketing, Biogen Idec.
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 a focus 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 integrated aspirin therapies designed to enable the full power of aspirin by reducing its GI toxicity. The lead candidate, PA32540, is being investigated for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and has entered Phase 3 clinical trials. POZEN is retaining commercial control of the pipeline assets and will launch creatively using a new sales force model and digital communications. The Company's common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol "POZN". For more detailed company information, including copies of this and other press releases, please visit: www.pozen.com.
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 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 September 30, 2010. We do not intend to update any of these factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements.
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