Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Appoints Senior Directors to Establish and Lead Medical Science Liaison Field Force
April 06 2004 - 7:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Appoints Senior Directors to Establish and
Lead Medical Science Liaison Field Force KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.,
April 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(Nasdaq: MICU; Nuovo Mercato) today announced the appointment of
Jennifer D. Copeland, M.S. and Steven P. Gelone, Pharm.D., as
Senior Directors to establish and lead the company's Medical
Science Liaison field force. Ms. Copeland and Dr. Gelone are
building and deploying a team of professionals whose initial focus
will be to lay the groundwork for the launch of the company's
investigational antifungal agent, anidulafungin, by conducting
physician outreach, medical education and opinion leader
development. Ms. Copeland will manage the company's medical science
liaisons in the Western region and Dr. Gelone will oversee the team
in the Eastern region of the United States. "Together, Jennifer and
Steve bring nearly 30 years of complementary anti-infective
research, medical education, training and field force experience to
Vicuron," said George F. Horner III, President and Chief Executive
Officer of Vicuron. "Their depth of knowledge and relationships
with key opinion leaders in our key target markets should enhance
early adoption, acceptance and uptake of our significantly
differentiated products." Prior to joining Vicuron, Dr. Gelone
spent 12 years at Temple University where he had broad
responsibilities in anti-infective education, clinical research and
patient management. Most recently, he served as Associate Professor
of Pharmacy and Assistant Professor of Medicine specializing in
infectious disease. Dr. Gelone has extensive experience with
anti-infective products, serving as principal investigator on more
than 50 research studies and has been involved in the formulary
evaluation of new antibacterial and antifungal agents. On the
patient management side, Gelone served for 10 years as Director of
the Antimicrobial Management Program at Temple University Hospital,
where he ran a clinical service managing hospital patients on
anti-infective regimens. Dr. Gelone received a Bachelor and a
Doctorate degree in Pharmacy from Temple University School of
Pharmacy. Ms. Copeland spent over 13 years in positions of
increasing responsibility at Abbott Laboratories, most recently as
Senior Manager of Medical Liaisons for the Anti-Infective
Franchise. In this position, Ms. Copeland hired, trained and
managed a national team and had general oversight for opinion
leader cultivation and medical education for the franchise. Prior
to her most recent role, Ms. Copeland served in numerous medical
liaison and sales capacities at Abbott, including Medical Liaison
for Gastrointestinal & Infectious Disease, Anti-Infective
Respiratory Specialist, Professional Pharmaceutical Representative
and Regional Field Trainer. Before joining Abbott, Ms. Copeland
served as Director of Medical Affairs for the American Cancer
Society's Texas Division where she managed patient service
programs, professionaleducation, volunteer recruitment and
training. Ms. Copeland holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
Microbiology and Biology from the University of Kansas and a
Masters of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of
Houston. About Vicuron Vicuron Pharmaceuticals is a
biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing,
manufacturing and commercializing vital medicine for seriously ill
patients in North America and major countries in Europe. The
company has filed a New Drug Application with the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration for its lead product, anidulafungin, a novel
antifungal agent. The company's other lead product, dalbavancin, a
novel intravenous antibiotic for the treatment of serious
Gram-positive infections, is in Phase III clinical trials. The
company's versatile research engine integrates industry-leading
expertise in functional genomics, natural products discovery,
mechanism-based drug design and combinatorial and medicinal
chemistry. These approaches are yieldingpromising novel and
next-generation compounds, many of which are in the later stages of
preclinical development. In addition, the company has research and
development collaborations with leading pharmaceutical companies,
such as Pfizer and Novartis. Forward-Looking Statements This news
release contains forward-looking statements that predict or
describe future events or trends. The matters described in these
forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other unpredictable factors, many of which are
beyond Vicuron's control. Vicuron faces many risks that could cause
its actual performance to differ materially from the results
predicted by its forward-looking statements, including the
possibilities that clinical trials and the results thereof might be
delayed, that the timing of the filing of any new drug application
might be delayed, that subsequent clinical trials might indicate
that a product candidate is unsafe or ineffective, that any filed
new drug application may not be approved, that ongoing proprietary
and collaborative research might not occur or yield useful results,
that a third party may not be willing to license our product
candidates on terms acceptable to us or at all, that competitors
might develop superior substitutes for their products or market
them more effectively, that a sales force may not be developed as
contemplated and that one or more of its product candidates may not
be commercialized successfully. The reports that Vicuron files with
the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission contain a fuller
description of these and many other risks to which Vicuron is
subject. Because of those risks, Vicuron's actual results,
performance or achievements may differ materially from the results,
performance or achievements contemplated by its forward- looking
statement. The information set forth in this news release
represents management's current expectations and intentions.
Vicuron assumes no responsibility to issue updates to the
forward-looking matters discussed in this news release. DATASOURCE:
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. CONTACT: Dov A. Goldstein, M.D. of
Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc., +1-610-205-2312, or ; or Hala Bashir
of WeissCom Partners, +1-212-204-2080, or , or E. Blair Schoeb of
Burns McClellan Inc., +1-212-213-0006, or , both for Vicuron
Pharmaceuticals Inc. Web site: http://www.vicuron.com/
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