UNION CITY, Calif., Sept. 5, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:QCOR) announced today that it has recently expanded its management team with the appointment of Timothy O'Neill, Ph.D., Vice President, Contract Manufacturing, and Eldon Mayer, Vice President, Commercial Operations. These new positions were created to support the company's efforts to identify and pursue important growth opportunities for H.P. Acthar Gel.
"Timothy and Eldon provide us with significant additional bandwidth to accelerate our Acthar-centric growth programs," said Don Bailey, Questcor's President and CEO. "Timothy's valuable industry experience in the development and manufacture of biologics and Eldon's significant commercial experience and strong strategic thinking strengthen our team's capabilities at this key stage of the company's development. Questcor has just recently initiated a very targeted direct selling effort for Acthar in the multiple sclerosis market and is continuing to evaluate other potential new indications for this unique drug. We expect that Timothy and Eldon will make important, lasting contributions to the expansion of the commercial market for Acthar and to Questcor's footprint in the biopharmaceutical industry."
Timothy O'Neill, 50, was Senior Director for biopharmaceuticals at Allergan from 2005 until he joined Questcor. He was responsible for process, analytical and formulation development, and managed the outsourced development of a new biological investigational drug. Before joining Allergan, Dr. O'Neill served as Senior Director, Pharmaceutical Development at Chugai Pharma USA.
Earlier in his career, Dr. O'Neill held industry and academic positions at several organizations, including SyStemix/Novartis, Roche Biosciences, and the National Institutes of Health. He earned his PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Davis, and MS and BS degrees at Cornell University.
Eldon Mayer, 47, was most recently a management consultant providing marketing, business and strategy expertise, as well as guidance on operational and launch plans, for a variety of biotech and pharmaceutical clients.
Prior to this, Mr. Mayer held a variety of senior marketing positions with Genentech, Connectics Corporation, Chiron Corporation, ALZA Corporation, and Schering Plough. He earned his MBA at Syracuse University and BS at Fairleigh Dickinson University.
About Questcor
Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a pharmaceutical company that markets two commercial products, H.P. Acthar(r) Gel ("Acthar") and Doral(r). Acthar (repository corticotropin injection) is an injectable drug that is approved for the treatment of certain disorders with an inflammatory component, including the treatment of exacerbations associated with multiple sclerosis ("MS"). In addition, Acthar is not indicated for, but is used in treating patients with infantile spasms ("IS"), a rare form of refractory childhood epilepsy, and opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome, a rare autoimmune-related childhood neurological disorder. Doral is indicated for the treatment of insomnia characterized by difficulty in falling asleep, frequent nocturnal awakenings, and/or early morning awakenings. The Company is also developing QSC-001, a unique orally disintegrating tablet formulation of hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen for the treatment of moderate to moderately severe pain. For more information, please visit www.questcor.com.
Note: Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements are subject to certain factors, which may cause Questcor's results to differ from those reported herein. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, Questcor's ability to continue to successfully implement its strategy and business model for Acthar, the introduction of competitive products, regulatory changes including possible outcomes relating to a recent Congressional hearing regarding orphan drug pricing, Questcor's ability to accurately forecast the demand for its products, the gross margin achieved from the sale of its products, Questcor's ability to enforce its product returns policy, Questcor's ability to estimate the quantity of Acthar used by government entities and Medicaid-eligible patients, that the actual amount of rebates and discounts related to the use of Acthar by government entities and Medicaid-eligible patients may differ materially from Questcor's estimates, the sell-through by Questcor's distributors, the expenses and other cash needs for upcoming periods, the inventories carried by Questcor's distributors, specialty pharmacies and hospitals, volatility in Questcor's monthly and quarterly Acthar shipments and end-user demand, Questcor's ability to obtain finished goods from its sole source contract manufacturers on a timely basis if at all, Questcor's ability to attract and retain key management personnel, Questcor's ability to utilize its net operating loss carry forwards to reduce income taxes on taxable income, research and development risks, uncertainties regarding Questcor's intellectual property and the uncertainty of receiving required regulatory approvals in a timely way, or at all, other research and development risks, as well as the risks discussed in Questcor's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The risk factors and other information contained in these documents should be considered in evaluating Questcor's prospects and future financial performance.
Questcor undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements, which may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.