APT Pharmaceuticals Adds Stephen Aselage to Board of Directors
BURLINGAME, CA – JANUARY 15, 2009
APT Pharmaceuticals, a specialty drug development company focused on inhaled treatments for serious lung diseases, announced today that Stephen Aselage has joined its Board of Directors, effective immediately.
Stephen Aselage is currently senior vice president, Global Commercial Development, at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining BioMarin, he held the position of executive vice president of Global Commercial Operations at Cell Therapeutics. Prior to Cell Therapeutics, Aselage served as senior vice president of North American Sales and Marketing for Sangstat, a company that focused on solid organ transplant. At Sangstat, he led the successful effort to make Thymoglobulin® the top selling product in its class. He then assisted in the transition to Genzyme after their acquisition of the company. Aselage has also held a variety of other positions at biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Advanced Tissue Sciences, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals, Genentech, Inc., and Bristol Laboratories.
“Steve brings decades of experience in the commercialization of new products in the biopharmaceutical industry,” explained Dr. Stephen Dilly, president and CEO of APT Pharmaceuticals. “We now have a board with deep experience in all critical functional areas to support our team as we successfully develop and launch products for serious lung diseases.”
“It is a privilege to join the APT team in their focused effort to address important unmet medical needs,” said Stephen Aselage. “I have a long-standing interest in the field of transplantation and believe in the significant potential of the inhaled cyclosporine program to change the field of lung transplantation. APT has put together a tremendously talented group of individuals, and I look forward to assisting them as they work to improve outcomes for lung transplant patients.”
APT’s lead product, inhaled cyclosporine, is in Phase III following a Phase II study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a nationally recognized transplant center, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2006. Patients that received inhaled cyclosporine in addition to their standard immunosuppressive treatment showed a 78% reduction in mortality compared to those in the control group
About APT Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
APT Pharmaceuticals, a specialty drug development company primarily focused on inhaled treatments for serious lung diseases, is based in Burlingame, California. Leading life sciences investors including Charter Life Sciences, Great Point Partners, InterWest Partners, Three Arch Partners, Versant Ventures and Vivo Ventures back APT.
For more information, please visit www.aptbio.com.
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