Basilea appoints Chief Commercial Officer

Basilea appoints Chief Commercial Officer

BASEL, Switzerland, Aug. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Basilea
Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) reports today that it has appointed
David Veitch as Chief Commercial Officer of Basilea Pharmaceutica
International Ltd. Mr Veitch will join the company on September 1,
2014. As a member of the management committee, he will be responsible
for leading Basilea's commercial operations, including sales,
marketing, pricing and market access, reporting to Chief Executive
Officer Ronald Scott.

David Veitch brings over 25 years of international commercial
experience in the pharmaceutical industry to Basilea. He has led
cross-functional organizations at the country and European level and
was responsible for the launch of numerous brands across many
therapeutic areas. Most recently he was President European Operations
at Savient Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Savient, from 1996 to 2011, Mr.
Veitch held various positions with increasing responsibilities at
Bristol-Myers Squibb UK and Europe. Mr. Veitch's last position at
Bristol-Myers Squibb was Senior Vice President Europe, Middle-East and
Asia, Marketing and Brand Commercialization, leading the commercial
organization for the region with a focus on specialty care brands. He
started his pharma career in 1987 at SmithKline Beecham
Pharmaceuticals, UK. Mr Veitch holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
biology from the University of Bristol, UK.

"We are very pleased to have David Veitch join our team as Chief
Commercial Officer. His extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of
European pharmaceutical markets will be instrumental in the
commercialization of our broad-spectrum antibiotic Zevftera/Mabelio,"
said Ronald Scott, Chief Executive Officer of Basilea. "We anticipate
launching Zevtera in Germany in the second half of this year, followed
by launches in additional key European markets in 2015. In the event
our antifungal isavuconazole is approved next year, Basilea could have
two hospital anti-infectives with European market authorization by the
end of 2015. This would afford the company significant commercial
synergy and put Basilea in a strong position to optimize the value of
these two drugs. We look forward to working with David to bring our new
medications to the market."

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and
listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Through the fully
integrated research and development operations of its Swiss subsidiary
Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd., the company focuses on
innovative pharmaceutical products in the therapeutic areas of
bacterial infections, fungal infections and oncology, targeting the
medical challenge of rising resistance and non-response to current
treatment options. Basilea's pipeline includes the antibiotic
Zevtera(R)/Mabelio(R) (ceftobiprole medocaril) and the antifungal
isavuconazole.

Zevtera/Mabelio is a bactericidal broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotic
from the cephalosporin class, covering Gram-positive and Gram-negative
pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
and Pseudomonas spp., which are frequent causes of hospital-acquired
pneumonia.1 It is approved for the treatment of adults with
hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP, excluding ventilator-associated
pneumonia, VAP) and community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in certain
European countries2 and is currently under regulatory review in
Switzerland.

Isavuconazole (drug substance: isavuconazonium sulfate) is an
investigational once-daily intravenous and oral broad-spectrum
antifungal for the potential treatment of life-threatening invasive
fungal infections which predominantly occur in immunocompromised
patients such as cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It has EU and
U.S. orphan drug status for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and
mucormycosis. In the U.S., isavuconazole was granted FDA fast-track
status and designated a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for
invasive aspergillosis, mucormycosis and candidiasis under the U.S.
GAIN Act. In July 2014, Basilea submitted a European Marketing
Authorization Application (MAA) and its co-development partner Astellas
Pharma Inc. submitted a U.S. New Drug Application (NDA) seeking
isavuconazole approval for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and
mucormycosis. Basilea holds full rights to isavuconazole in markets
outside of the U.S. and Canada where Astellas is the license holder.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain
forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and
its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results,
financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea
Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing
this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please contact:


              Media Relations              Investor Relations
      Peer Nils Schroder, PhD          Barbara Zink, PhD, MBA
      Head Public Relations &      Head Corporate Development
     Corporate Communications
              +41 61 606 1102                 +41 61 606 1233
  [email protected]  [email protected]

 

This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

References


     R. N. Jones. Microbial etiologies of hospital-acquired bacterial pneumonia and ventilator-associated bacterial
  1   pneumonia. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2010 (51), S81-S87
     Following approval under the European decentralized procedure, ceftobiprole has received national licenses in
      Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom; national
      authorization in Italy and Luxembourg, and reimbursement and pricing authorization in several countries including
  2   Spain is ongoing