ALLSCHWIL and BASEL, Switzerland, Dec. 16, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Actelion Ltd (SWX: ATLN) (Other OTC:ALIOF) today announced that it has chosen Andrew J. Oakley (40) to succeed Andre J. Mueller (59) as the company's Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Oakley will take office on 2nd January 2003, with Andre J. Mueller assisting him until spring. Andre J. Mueller will then leave the Actelion management team to focus on his role as an Actelion board member, where he serves on the finance and audit committee.
JeanPaul Clozel, M.D. and Chief Executive Officer of Actelion, commented: "With Andrew J. Oakley as our new CFO, we have chosen an experienced finance person with a keen eye for matters both operational and strategic. Actelion is fully committed to achieve fullyear profitability in the year 2004. We are also committed to further grow the company by investing in our future through substantial clinical and preclinical activities. Having worked in both the industrial and the finance sector, we expect Andrew's leadership to be instrumental to reach these and other future goals."
Andrew J. Oakley, a citizen of both Australia and the United Kingdom, holds an MBA from London Business School. He has been a member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants since 1987. In his last position before joining Actelion, Mr. Oakley served in a senior finance capacity for the global holding companies of Accenture. In his career, he has also held executive positions in the finance departments of two major multinational building material companies. In addition, he also spent several years as an equity analyst with banks in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Commenting on Andre J. Mueller's achievements, JeanPaul Clozel said: "Andre has ensured through two rounds of venture capital funding and a very successful Initial Public Offering that Actelion had access to the funding it required to make the company's first product, Tracleer(R) in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, a success in key markets worldwide. In addition, Andre has built up a stateoftheart finance system that allowed us to always closely manage our growing income from Tracleer(R) sales, expected to exceed CHF 115 million this year alone."
Andre J. Mueller, a member of the Actelion founding team, will stay on with the company as a board member, a mandate he has held already since spring 2002. He will also provide strategic consulting services to Actelion.
Actelion Ltd
Actelion Ltd is a biopharmaceutical company, with its corporate headquarter in Allschwil/Basel, Switzerland. Actelion's first drug Tracleer(R), an orally available dual endothelin receptor antagonist, has been approved as a therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Actelion markets Tracleer(R) through its own subsidiaries in key markets worldwide, including the United States (based in South San Francisco), the European Union as well as Canada and Switzerland. Actelion, founded in late 1997, is a leading player in innovative science related to the endothelium the single layer of cells separating every blood vessel from the blood stream. Actelion focuses on the discovery, development and marketing of innovative drugs for significant unmet medical needs. Actelion shares are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: ATLN).
-0- Actelion Ltd. Media/Investor Roland Haefeli 41 61 487 34 58 1 650 624-6936 www.actelion.com