CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR), an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat severe lipid disorders, announced the appointment of Mark Sumeray, MD, MS, FRCS, to the executive team as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Sumeray brings development, regulatory and medical affairs experience with cardiovascular drugs such as Plavix®, apixaban, Avapro®/Avalide®, and Angiomax® to Aegerion.
Dr. Sumeray was most recently Vice President Cardiovascular/Metabolics U.S. Medical, at Bristol-Myers Squibb. In this role, he was responsible for U.S. medical strategy for the CV and metabolics medical strategy teams, including implementation across the medical affairs function working collaboratively with marketing, sales, global clinical research and health outcomes.
Prior to this role, Dr. Sumeray held several positions of increasing responsibility within The Medicines Company, including Vice President and Business Unit Co-Leader, Vice President Medical Business Development, and Vice President Clinical Development and Head of Medical Science. Prior to that, Dr. Sumeray was worldwide Vice President of Clinical Development for the Ethicon Franchise of Johnson & Johnson.
"Mark's proven leadership in clinical drug development, particularly creating medical affairs strategies aligned with commercial objectives, makes him a welcome addition to our team," said Aegerion's Chief Executive Officer Marc D. Beer. "He brings extensive medical affairs expertise and is adept at building key opinion leader support. He also has a track record of working closely with regulatory officials through the approval and post-approval process."
Dr. Sumeray added, "Given my background in cardiovascular disease drug development, I look forward to bringing hands-on experience in this area to the Aegerion team, working through the regulatory filing, approval and commercial launch for the benefit of patients in need of therapy."
About Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR) is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat severe lipid disorders. The Company's lead product, lomitapide, is in Phase III clinical development. Lomitapide is initially being developed to treat patients with a rare genetic lipid disorder called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HoFH. The Company also plans to initiate a clinical program for lomitapide to treat patients with a severe genetic form of hypertriglyceridemia called familial chylomicronemia (FC).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the ongoing development of the Company's product candidates and the expected timing of regulatory filings. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: our history of operating losses; our potential need for additional capital to fund operations and develop our product candidates; uncertainties associated with the clinical development and associated regulatory filings of our product candidates, including the risk that our regulatory filings may not be accepted by the applicable regulatory authorities or that such acceptance may be delayed, the risk that our product candidates may not be approved for any indication, or if approved, the risk that the finally approved definition of the targeted patient populations for our product candidates may be narrower than we expect; risks associated with undesirable side effects experienced by some patients in clinical trials for our product candidates; risks associated with our lack of sales and marketing experience; the highly competitive industry in which we operate; risks associated with our intellectual property rights and the extent to which such intellectual property rights protect our product candidates; the risk that third parties may allege that we infringe their intellectual property rights or that we have failed to comply with the provisions of our in-license agreements; risks associated with our reliance on third parties, in particular clinical research organizations and contract manufacturers; risks associated with our ability to recruit, hire and retain qualified personnel; risks associated with our reliance on certain key personnel; and risks associated with volatility in our stock price as a newly public company. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by the Company, see the disclosure contained in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's final prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) dated June 23, 2011 under the heading "Risk Factors" and available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.