Idorsia establishes US commercial operations and leadership team


  • Idorsia inaugurates its US commercial operations, located in Radnor, PA, United States
  • Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US Inc. to be led by 20-year biopharmaceutical veteran Patricia Torr
  • For more information about Idorsia Pharmaceutical US Inc. please visit www.idorsia.us

Allschwil, Switzerland – July 16, 2020
Idorsia Ltd (SIX: IDIA) today announced its strategic expansion in the United States by establishing commercial operations. Located in Radnor, PA – a Philadelphia suburb known for its strong healthcare and pharmaceutical environment – Idorsia Pharmaceuticals US Inc. has been established to further develop and embed Idorsia’s budding global commercial organization and realize the value of its innovations by ensuring patients can benefit from the company’s pioneering therapies.  Idorsia US will be led by Patricia “Patty” Torr, President and General Manager, who joined Idorsia in March 2020.

Simon Jose, Chief Commercial Officer, commented:
“Idorsia is a start-up like no other! Established just three years ago, a founding team of 650 employees started out with a rich experience of working together and a pipeline of early-stage assets. Today, the company employs over 800 professionals and the pipeline has made incredible progress. Most recently we have released outstanding results of two pivotal studies of an investigational therapy for insomnia, and we expect a steady flow of results from other late-stage assets over the next few years. We are therefore ramping up our activities in the US and creating our commercial operations to prepare for the launch of our first product.”

Simon Jose, continued:
With Patty, we have the perfect seasoned leader to build our US business from the ground up. With over 20-years in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries Patty brings the ideal blend of experience, determination, and executional excellence that we need to grow Idorsia to its full commercial potential in the US. The breadth of our pipeline requires multiple skills and strategic vision from a commercial perspective.  Patty’s building a talented team ready to disrupt under-served markets and build new markets, using our high-quality scientific and medical evidence to engage effectively with experts, physicians and payors.”

Patricia Torr, President and General Manager of Idorsia US, commented:
“I’m incredibly excited and honored to build the commercial footprint that will bring Idorsia’s robust pipeline of products from its world-class R&D engine to the United States market – changing the lives of many patients in need. The US healthcare system is complex and constantly evolving. The need to bring innovative medicines to fill unmet needs for patients is as important as ever. Idorsia is committed to building our US operations to bring creative solutions to the market based on our science and data. We have formed a talented and diverse leadership team to commercialize and realize the potential of our deep and broad pipeline. Each of the team members have exceptional experience of the pharma world, in their respective functional areas, as well as a strong entrepreneurial mindset. This combination will be critical to our success as we move a step closer to commercializing our first product in the US.”

Jean-Paul Clozel, MD and Chief Executive Officer of Idorsia, commented:
“This is a very exciting time for Idorsia. Just three years after creation we are entering a new phase, as we move closer to our ambition of developing into a fully-fledged biopharmaceutical company, bringing our products from the bench to the bedside. For our new US team, they are starting-up with all the excitement that goes with creating something from scratch, but with the security of excellent data with our lead compound and a broad pipeline of compounds that each have the potential to significantly change the treatment options in their target disease. I am very proud that such experienced and talented people have decided to join Idorsia.”

About Patricia Torr
Patricia (Patty) Torr brings over 20 years of broad leadership experience and industry-leading results in pharmaceutical and biotech marketing and sales to Idorsia. She served as CSL Behring’s Vice President, Global Commercial Strategy for Thrombosis and Hemostasis; Shire Pharmaceuticals’ Executive Vice President Head of US Hematology; Johnson and Johnson’s Vice President US Sales and Marketing of the Cardiovascular and Institutional Business and other senior roles at GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca. Working across all stages of the product lifecycle from preclinical to launch to patent expiration and across therapeutic categories, she has forged a reputation for bringing successful products to market: while leading sales and marketing efforts for first-in-class Xa inhibitor Xarelto at J&J, Patty launched six indications in 18 months and achieved over $2 billion in sales. Ms. Torr earned a B.S. in Public Health Education from East Carolina University and an MBA in Marketing from St. Joseph’s University.

About the leadership team in the US
Since joining Idorsia in March 2020, Patty has already secured most positions for her leadership team at Idorsia US:
Scotty Bowman, Vice President, Head of US Market Access
William Gileza, Vice President, Head of US Finance and Infrastructures
Frances F. Lillo, Senior Director, Head of US Human Resources
Michael Moye, Vice President, Head of US Marketing
Eric Siegel, Vice President, Head of US Compliance
Paul Varki, Vice President, US General Counsel, Head of Legal

Notes to the editor

About the leadership team in the US

Scotty Bowman, Vice President, Head of US Market Access
With over 35 years of pharma experience, Scotty was most recently Owner and President of Market Access GTN, LLC where he consulted with multiple BioPharma organizations on Market Access launch excellence. Prior to Market Access GTN, Scotty was SVP, US Market Access for Shire where he was responsible for the entire portfolio Market Access strategy, Specialty Distribution design and contracting, government price reporting, 3PL management, Government Affairs and Policy, strategic contracting with both public and private payers along with HUB service contracting and design. His therapeutic areas of focus include CNS, TNF Inhibitors, GI, Immunology, Hematology, Oncology, Renal, HIV, Endocrine, Ophthalmology, Pain, Cardiovascular, LSD, multiple rare and orphan drug categories. Scotty earned a Master Degree in Science and Jurisprudence from Seton Hall Law School and a BA in Biology at the College of Wooster.

William Gileza, Vice President, Head of US Finance and Infrastructures
Bill has enjoyed a 30-year adventure in the pharma industry in both the generic and specialty brand arenas. He has designed, implemented and led a full range of corporate financial functions including strategic and operational planning in fast-paced, growth environments, including strategic planning, budgeting and forecasting, operations analysis, pipeline selection and valuation, M&A valuation, accounting operations, performance tracking and reporting, corporate objectives programs, incentive compensation, as well as IT and procurement functions. Prior to joining Idorsia, Bill spent 11 years leading Lupin Pharma’s US finance operations in Baltimore, MD, as VP-Finance, where he oversaw the development of the finance and IT infrastructure from the ground up. Before Lupin, Bill spent 11 years with K-V Pharmaceutical in St. Louis, MO, where he rose to VP-Business Planning and led the business planning and analysis function covering branded, generic and specialty raw material divisions, with overall responsibility for budgeting and forecasting, M&A valuations, strategic planning and corporate objectives programs. Bill also spent 7 years building and leading the corporate accounting team for Schein Pharmaceuticals in Florham Park, NJ. Bill earned both his MBA and BS in Accounting & Economics from Clarkson University.

Frances F. Lillo, Senior Director, Head of US Human Resources
Fran Lillo was appointed Senior Director, Head of US Human Resources in May 2020.  Prior to joining Idorsia, she was Human Resources Director at Janssen Research & Development LLC and supported the successful integration of Actelion's US Clinical Development organization following Janssen's acquisition of Actelion in June 2017.  From 2005 - 2017, Fran helped drive the growth of Actelion's US Clinical Development organization through consistent focus on corporate core values and mission.  Fran started her HR career in the consumer products sector at Hunt Corporation in Philadelphia, where, over a 16 year tenure, she was responsible for talent acquisition, benefits and compensation, and employee development and engagement. Fran holds a B.A. degree in Journalism from The Pennsylvania State University.

Michael Moye, Vice President, Head of US Marketing
Michael brings 22 years of marketing, sales and leadership experience spanning the pharmaceutical, device and diagnostic industries. He has worked across primary care, specialty and rare therapeutic areas.  He joins us from Takeda Pharmaceuticals where he held the position of VP, US Hematology Franchise Lead and was responsible for a broad portfolio of rare disease products. Before his work at Shire and Takeda Michael was at Janssen Pharmaceuticals/J&J where he led the US Marketing efforts for Xarelto. Prior to that he was with Tethys Bioscience where he held the positions of Senior Marketing Director and Vice President of Sales and Operations. Previously he held US and global marketing positions at Merck, Schering- Plough and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Michael holds a M.S. Ed. in Exercise Science and Wellness from Old Dominion University and B.S. in Sports Medicine from Marietta College.

Eric Siegel, Vice President, Head of US Compliance
Eric is an attorney and compliance professional with more than twenty-five years of experience in the life sciences industry.  Before joining Idorsia, he held the position of Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for Jazz Pharmaceuticals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Prior to that, he held the roles of Executive Vice President, General Counsel as well as Chief Compliance Officer for Incyte Corporation, a global biopharmaceutical company focused in Oncology, located in Wilmington, Delaware.  Before joining Incyte, Eric served in senior management roles for EMD Serono, Solstice Neurosciences and Cephalon.  He began his career in the pharmaceutical industry at SmithKline Beecham, now GlaxoSmithKline.Eric received his BA, Magna cum Laude, in Chemistry from Franklin and Marshall College, an MBA in Healthcare Administration from Temple University and his JD, cum Laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Paul Varki, Vice President, US General Counsel, Head of Legal
Paul brings 20 years of experience providing counsel in the pharmaceutical industry, at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and in private practice. He most recently served as Vice President, Legal, at Amarin Pharmaceuticals. He has led the legal and compliance functions as General Counsel at Braeburn Pharmaceuticals, and General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Egalet Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he held various legal roles of increasing responsibility, including Assistant General Counsel, at GlaxoSmithKline. Paul also practiced FDA regulatory law at Reed Smith, and has served as Regulatory Counsel at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research at FDA. Paul has a Juris Doctor from Temple University School of Law, a Master of Public Health from George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William and Mary.


About Idorsia
Idorsia Ltd is reaching out for more - We have more ideas, we see more opportunities and we want to help more patients. In order to achieve this, we will develop Idorsia into a leading biopharmaceutical company, with a strong scientific core.

Headquartered in Switzerland - a biotech-hub of Europe - Idorsia is specialized in the discovery and development of small molecules, to transform the horizon of therapeutic options. Idorsia has a broad portfolio of innovative drugs in the pipeline, an experienced team, a fully-functional research center, and a strong balance sheet – the ideal constellation to bringing R&D efforts to business success.

Idorsia was listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: IDIA) in June 2017 and has over 800 highly qualified specialists dedicated to realizing our ambitious targets.

With its US Commercial Operations based in the Philadelphia region, Idorsia is committed to meet the changing needs of healthcare professionals, patients and their families.  The core of what we do is to bring creative solutions to the market based on our science and data.

For further information, please contact
Andrew C. Weiss
Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hegenheimermattweg 91, CH-4123 Allschwil
+41 58 844 10 10
www.idorsia.com

The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.

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