Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq:DNDN) today announced that its board of
directors has appointed W. Thomas Amick as president and chief executive
officer, effective immediately. Mr. Amick has also been appointed to the
Company’s board of directors. Mr. Amick succeeds John H. Johnson, who
previously announced his plans to step down as president and chief
executive officer for personal reasons. Mr. Johnson will work with Mr.
Amick through August 15, 2014 to ensure a smooth transition.
Mr. Amick brings to Dendreon significant experience within the
pharmaceutical and life sciences industry. Most recently from 2010 to
2012, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Discovery
Labs, a specialty biotechnology company. Under his leadership, Discovery
Labs was granted approval for Surfaxin, the first synthetic lung
surfactant approved for use in premature infants. Prior to that, Mr.
Amick enjoyed a highly successful 30-year career with Johnson & Johnson
where, as vice president of the Ortho Biotech Oncology Franchise, he
launched Procrit® (epoetin alfa) and built J&J’s oncology
franchise into a multi-billion dollar operation, making Procrit the most
successful product in J&J history at the time. Mr. Amick also previously
held positions as president of Ortho Biotech Europe, president of
Janssen-Ortho Canada, and vice president of J&J Development Corporation
(the venture capital division of J&J).
“Tom’s appointment is the result of a thorough search process,” said
Douglas G. Watson, chairman of the board. “We believe that Tom’s
leadership experience and oncology product expertise make him an
excellent fit for Dendreon.”
“I have a great passion and respect for Dendreon’s mission of
transforming the lives of patients through the discovery, development
and commercialization of innovative cancer treatments,” said Mr. Amick.
“I believe that PROVENGE is a unique immunotherapy treatment and look
forward to working with the Dendreon team.”
About Dendreon
Dendreon Corporation is a biotechnology company whose mission is to
target cancer and transform lives through the discovery, development,
commercialization and manufacturing of novel therapeutics. The Company
applies its expertise in antigen identification, engineering and cell
processing to produce active cellular immunotherapy (ACI) product
candidates designed to stimulate an immune response in a variety of
tumor types. Dendreon’s first product, PROVENGE®
(sipuleucel-T), was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) in April 2010. Dendreon is exploring the application of additional
ACI product candidates and small molecules for the potential treatment
of a variety of cancers. The Company is headquartered in Seattle,
Washington, and is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol
DNDN. For more information about the Company and its programs, visit http://www.dendreon.com/.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in
nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause Dendreon's actual results to be materially
different from historical results or from any results expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but
are not limited to, whether we are able to pay off or refinance our
indebtedness, the dilution or other effects resulting from capital
raising or debt restructuring transactions, our inability to achieve and
sustain commercial success for PROVENGE; the identification of efficacy,
safety or other issues with PROVENGE; a slower than anticipated adoption
by treating physicians of PROVENGE for the treatment of patients with
advanced prostate cancer for a variety of reasons, including competing
therapies, instability in our sales force, the risk that we cannot
replace vacant sales positions on a prompt basis, perceived difficulties
in the treatment process, delays in obtaining reimbursement or for other
reasons; any promotional limitations imposed by the FDA or the EU on our
ability to commercialize and market PROVENGE; unexpected difficulties
and costs associated with the rapid expansion of our commercial
operations to support the commercial launch of PROVENGE; the impact of
competing therapies on sales of PROVENGE, the failure to achieve
reimbursement approvals in Europe, manufacturing or quality
difficulties, disruptions or delays and other factors discussed in the
"Risk Factors" section of Dendreon's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the quarter ended March 31, 2014. All forward-looking statements are
qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Dendreon is
providing this information as of the date of this press release and does
not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this release as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
Copyright Business Wire 2014