EKR Therapeutics, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on identifying, acquiring, and commercializing supportive care prescription products to enhance the quality-of-life for cancer patients, today announced the appointments of Susan C. Bacso as Vice President of Operations and Supply and William P. Zadinski as National Sales Director.
Ms. Bacso and Mr. Zadinski report directly to Howard Weisman, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of EKR Therapeutics, who said, “Sue and Bill possess outstanding qualifications that are the characteristic hallmarks of the EKR management team. They are highly experienced pharmaceutical professionals with proven abilities to both support and fuel EKR’s growth momentum, including the commercialization of our first product Gelclair(R) which we launched in the fourth quarter of 2006.” Gelclair is an FDA cleared product indicated for the management of pain associated with oral lesions of various etiologies, including chemotherapy and radiation induced oral mucositis/stomatitis.
“In the comparatively short time period since we initiated operations in June 2006, EKR has successfully met several key milestones,” noted Howard Weisman. “During the second-half of 2006 we not only acquired exclusive North American rights to Gelclair from Swiss based Helsinn Healthcare SA, but we also recruited and deployed our own sales force of specialty representatives.”
He further noted, “Gelclair has already been accepted on the formularies of major cancer centers and we are highly encouraged by the strength of the product’s market traction to date. Moreover, we are actively pursing opportunities to leverage our sales force and further bolster our growth prospects through the potential acquisition of other specialty therapeutics in our market space.”
Mr. Weisman concluded saying, “Sue and Bill have the experience, expertise, and entrepreneurial spirit that have proven to be key elements in the successful execution of our core business strategy. We are delighted to have them onboard as we position EKR for what we foresee as the next phase in our Company’s growth cycle.”
Susan C. Bacso
Serving as Vice President of Operations and Supply, Susan Bacso’s responsibilities include all aspects of manufacturing, technology transfer, supply chain, quality and regulatory assurance affairs related to the production and movement of product. She brings to EKR over twenty years broad-based and international pharmaceutical experience ranging in scope from contract manufacturing management to project management to research and science technology functions. She has demonstrated a wide range of abilities, including spearheading high performance teams, entering into due diligence assessments and quickly identifying and assessing key issues and risks, and establishing cGMP compliant quality management systems.
Earlier in her career, Susan worked at Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) where she advanced to positions of increasing responsibility including Manufacturing Area Head and Divisional Capital Project Leader. She then served as Senior Director of Quality Assurance and Technical Operations for ESP Pharma, a specialty pharmaceutical company co-founded by Howard Weisman to pursue an acquisition strategy similar to EKR. Within three years of initiating operations, ESP was acquired by PDL BioPharma, Inc (NASDAQ: PDLI) for over $500 million. Prior to joining EKR Therapeutics, Sue was a Senior Operations Executive for ESP Equity Partners, LLC, a private investment company engaged in acquiring pharmaceutical and medical assets in targeted therapeutic areas.
Sue received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Northeastern University and also holds a B.S. degree in Physical Geography, Environmental Science from McGill University.
William P. Zadinski
Joining EKR Therapeutics as National Sales Director, Bill Zadinski brings to this position impressive credentials and extensive, pertinent experience in sales management. His professional career encompasses over fourteen years of sales and sales management experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with an extensive background in hematology and oncology.
After first serving as a Sales Representative for Solvay Pharmaceuticals and then Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY), Bill joined Immunex Corporation, a company involved with chemotherapeutic agents as well as a supportive care oncology product, Leukine. Bill initially joined Immunex as an Oncology Specialty Representative and was promoted to the position of Regional Manager responsible for overseeing a hematology/oncology specialist sales team. Following the acquisition of Immunex by Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) and the sale of Leukine to Berlex Laboratories due to antitrust concerns, Bill transitioned his specialty sales team to Berlex. More recently, he served as Regional Manger for OSI Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:OSIP) where he played an integral role in hiring, training, and managing OSI’s start-up oncology sales team and where he gained invaluable experience and knowledge of Gelclair as OSI held the U.S. license to this product prior to the product’s acquisition by EKR.
Bill, who has been honored with several sales awards, is a graduate of Yale University where he received his B.A. degree in Political Science.
About EKR Therapeutics
Founded by experienced healthcare and business executives, EKR Therapeutics is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company that has brought together a highly seasoned team of industry professionals committed to providing prescription products and therapeutic solutions to support and enhance the quality-of-life of cancer patients. As new and increasingly effective oncology therapies emerge, more patients survive cancer. The EKR management team recognizes that oncology supportive products are becoming increasingly critical in the overall care of cancer patients, because the side-effects of oncology treatments can be severe and debilitating. EKR is committed to addressing this largely unmet medical need by collaborating with the full scope of healthcare practitioners in helping patients adhere to primary treatments through the use of supportive care products. EKR intends to identify, acquire, market, distribute and eventually develop therapeutics for patients in need of supportive care products during cancer treatment. For additional information about EKR visit the Company’s website at http://www.ekrtx.com. Full prescribing information for Gelclair may be obtained at http://www.gelclair.com
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