Dance Biopharm Holdings announces the appointment of Anne Whitaker as Chief Executive Officer
Dance Biopharm Holdings announces the appointment of Anne Whitaker as Chief Executive Officer
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 25, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dance Biopharm Holdings Inc. ("Dance"), a private biotechnology company focused on developing transformational healthcare solutions to treat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases, is pleased to announce that Anne Whitaker has been appointed as a Director and Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Whitaker will take up her new position on October 1st, 2018.
Ms. Whitaker is an experienced CEO who brings more than 27 years of experience in the life science industry across large pharmaceutical, biotech and specialty pharma companies, primarily in the fields of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory, gastroenterology and oncology. Her C-suite level experience includes serving as the President and CEO of KNOW Bio, LLC, Novoclem Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Synta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She has significant commercial experience in the US diabetes market serving as the President of the North America Region for Sanofi SA from 2011-2014 where she had responsibility for all pharmaceutical, device and consumer health care business units.
"As we transition into late stage development and prepare for commercialization of our lead clinical asset, Dance 501, we need a CEO with a depth of successful commercial experience in the diabetes market," stated John S. Patton, Ph.D. Chairman and Chief Science Officer of Dance Biopharm. “Anne brings extensive commercial experience and has worked with branded diabetes pharmaceutical products at all stages of the product life cycle. I am confident we will benefit from her experience, insight and leadership."
“I am extremely excited to be joining Dance during this critical stage of development of its novel inhaled insulin therapy, Dance 501,” Anne Whitaker said. “Upon approval, I believe Dance 501 will be transformative for diabetes patients around the world who desperately need improvement in managing their disease and are avoiding use of insulin due to their fear and dislike of injections.”
Anne’s previous experience includes serving as Executive Vice President and Company Group Chairman at Bausch Health Companies, where she was responsible for overseeing its Global Branded Pharmaceutical Business, as well as the Canadian and Western European regions. She also held several commercial leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline including responsibility for the cardiovascular and metabolism businesses in the U.S. Most recently, she founded Novoclem Therapeutics, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of KNOW Bio, LLC, a company focused on developing novel healthcare solutions for patients who suffer from severe respiratory diseases.
Anne is also an experienced board director of public and private companies, as well as non-profit organizations. She currently serves on the boards of Mallinckrodt, Plc. (MNK: NYSE); Vectura Group PLC (VEC:LSE) and Cree, Inc (CREE: NASDAQ), and is a Trustee for the University of North Alabama.
Dance was introduced to Anne Whitaker through engagement with Jodie Emery of Ignite Search Partners.
About Dance Biopharm
Dance Biopharm is a private company based in the San Francisco Bay Area focused on developing novel inhaled formulations of medicines to treat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases. The company began operations in 2010, founded by Dr. John Patton, who has over 25 years of experience developing inhaled insulin and other inhaled therapies. For more information, please visit http://dancebiopharm.com.
About Dance 501, an Inhaled Insulin Product
Dance 501 is the company’s most advanced clinical candidate being studied for the treatment of type 1 and 2 diabetes. Dance 501 is drug device combination product that includes a novel preservative free formulation of inhaled recombinant human insulin delivered via a proprietary, smart, handheld soft mist device. Dance 501 has been designed to enable convenient and confident delivery of insulin into a patient’s lungs in just a few breaths yielding high lung deposition and distribution. Dance plans to initiate a global, phase three clinical development program with Dance 501 in diabetes patients in 2019.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks, trends and uncertainties that could cause actual results and achievements to differ materially from those expressed in such statements. We have based these forward-looking statements upon information available to management of Dance as of the date of this release and management's expectations and projections about certain future events. It is possible that the assumptions made by management for purposes of such statements may not materialize. Actual results may differ materially from those projected or implied in any forward-looking statements. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to those relating to our limited operating history, our ability to successfully develop Dance 501, the cost and uncertainty of obtaining regulatory approvals, changes in the competitive or regulatory landscape and our ability to develop and commercialize a Connected Health Pulmonary drug delivery system.
Contact:
Samantha Miller
Communications
smiller@dancebiopharm.com
