Nabriva Therapeutics Appoints Dr Colin Broom as Chief Executive Officer

VIENNA, September 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

New US Subsidiary to be located in the Philadelphia Area 

Nabriva Therapeutics AG, a biotechnology company focused on developing pleuromutilins, a new class of antibiotics for the treatment of serious infections caused by resistant gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens, today announced the appointment of Dr Colin Broom as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Current CEO Ralf Schmid will remain a member of the executive management team and move to the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The company also announced the establishment of a US subsidiary, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where the clinical development team will be located. All other activities will remain in Vienna. Nabriva plans to take its lead product lefamulin (BC‑3781) into late stage development in community-acquired bacterial pneumonia and advance its pipeline of Extended Spectrum Pleuromutilins (ESP), active against gram-negative bacteria.

Dr Denise Pollard-Knight, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Nabriva, commented on the appointment: "We welcome Colin to Nabriva and are delighted to announce the opening of our US subsidiary. Colin's track record and experience will enable us to maximise the potential in Nabriva's pipeline. The increasing interest in the development of new antibiotics and a favourable funding environment for biotech companies in the US provide a great opportunity to position the company for significant growth in the future.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Ralf Schmid, the current CEO who is assuming the roles of COO and CFO. Ralf has been instrumental in establishing Nabriva and leading us to this important stage, and will in his new role head the Austrian site and continue to play a key role in the company's future development."

Dr Broom, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Nabriva, added: "New antibiotic development is one of the most important priorities in medicine as we see increasing resistance to currently available drugs.  Nabriva is one of a few development stage companies with a truly novel antibiotic product ready for phase 3 studies in an area of significant unmet medical need, and with a clear development path to potential approval. I am very excited to join Nabriva at this stage and look forward to working with the highly experienced board and management team on building a patient-centric global biopharmaceutical company. My immediate attention is focussed on establishing a world-class clinical development team in the Philadelphia area."

Dr Broom has worked in biopharmaceutical drug development and commercialization for 30 years. Most recently he served as Chief Scientific Officer at ViroPharma, Inc., which was acquired by Shire plc for $4.2bn in January 2014. Prior development roles included senior positions at Amgen, Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Sanofi), SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo (now GlaxoSmithKline). Dr Broom also serves on the board of NPS Pharmaceuticals.

Dr Broom holds a Bachelor of Science degree in pharmacology from University College, London, and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from St. George's Hospital Medical School, London. He is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the UK Colleges of Physicians.

Notes to editors 

About Nabriva Therapeutics AG  

Nabriva Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing a new class of antibiotics, the pleuromutilins, for the treatment of patients with serious infections caused by multi-drug resistant pathogens. Nabriva's world-class medicinal chemistry expertise has achieved an industry first with the development of both intravenously administered and orally available pleuromutilins that are therefore ideal for i.v. to oral switch therapy.

Nabriva's lead product lefamulin (BC‑3781) is about to enter Phase 3 clinical studies. Due to its broad spectrum, oral and i.v. formulations, and a favourable safety profile, lefamulin is the first of a new class of antibiotics ideally positioned for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP), plus hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP), as well as acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI), with potential in several other indications (sexually transmitted infections including MDR gonorrhoea; osteomyelitis) including paediatric use.

Nabriva's preclinical program, the Extended Spectrum Pleuromutilins (ESPs) expands the activity of pleuromutilins to include major enteric Gram-negative pathogens such as E. coli and K. pneumoniae. The targeted indications for the ESP extend beyond the current use of the first-generation pleuromutilins, thereby filling important gaps in treatment options of both marketed antibiotics and compounds in development.

For further information, please contact: 

Nabriva Therapeutics AG
Dr Colin Broom, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +43(0)1-740-930
Email: office@nabriva.com

Hume Brophy
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Hollie Vile
Tel: +44(0)2034405654
Email: nabriva@humebrophy.com