Nabriva Therapeutics Strengthens Board and Management Team

VIENNA and PHILADELPHIA, January 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

 

Charles Rowland joins Supervisory Board 

Dr Steven Gelone appointed Chief Development Officer 

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 Charles Rowland to the Nabriva Supervisory Board and Dr Steven Gelone to the position of Chief Development Officer and member of the Management Team.

Charles Rowland CPA, MBA, has over 30 years of diversified experience across a broad field of financial areas. Most recently, he was the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of ViroPharma Inc., until its acquisition by Shire plc last year. Prior to joining ViroPharma in 2008, Mr. Rowland was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, as well as the interim Co-Chief Executive Officer, for Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. Prior roles include leadership positions at Biovail Corporation, Breakaway Technologies, Inc., Pharmacia Corporation, Novartis AG and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

Mr Rowland is a member of the board of directors and chairs the audit committee of Bind Therapeutics, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals and Vitae Pharmaceuticals. Previous board positions include Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr Rowland holds an M.B.A. with a finance concentration from Rutgers University and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Saint Joseph's University. He is a Board Member of the Philadelphia chapter of Financial Executives International.

Dr Steven Gelone Pharm D, has been involved in all stages of drug development and commercialization for 20 years. Most recently he served as Head of Clinical Research and Development at Spark Therapeutics and was Vice President of Development at ViroPharma Inc. (which was acquired by Shire plc in January 2014). Prior roles include leadership positions at GSK, Vicuron Pharmaceuticals and Temple University Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine.

Dr Gelone holds a Bachelor of Sciences and a Doctorate in Pharmacy degree from Temple University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the American Society for Microbiology and the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists.

Dr Denise Pollard-Knight, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Nabriva, commented on the appointments: I am very pleased to welcome Charlie to our Board and Steven to our Management Team. Their expertise will be invaluable as we accelerate our programs. Charles' financial expertise, combined with his understanding of the pharmaceutical sector, and Steven's expertise in drug development and commercialization will bring further depth to Nabriva. We look forward to working with them."

Dr Colin Broom, Chief Executive Officer of Nabriva, said: "Our objective is to establish a world-class development team in the Philadelphia area. We are delighted to welcome Charles and Steven to Nabriva. Their respective experience in strategic financial planning and product development will enhance our ability to address an area of significant unmet medical need by efficiently advancing our lead product, lefamulin, into late stage development and advancing our pipeline of Extended Spectrum Pleuromutilins (ESPs), which have expanded activity against additional gram-negative bacteria."

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). Additional potential uses include hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP), acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI) and several other indications (such as sexually transmitted infections including MDR gonorrhoea and osteomyelitis) in addition to paediatric use. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) as well as Fast Track status designation to lefamulin, for the treatment of community-acquired bacterial pneumonia (CABP) and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

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 2034405654
Email: nabriva@humebrophy.com

 

SOURCE Nabriva Therapeutics AG