Ironwood
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IRWD) announced today the appointment
of Thomas Graney as chief financial officer (CFO) and senior vice
president of finance and corporate strategy, and the appointment of Lisa
Adler as senior vice president of corporate communications. Prior to
joining Ironwood, Mr. Graney served as worldwide vice president of
finance and CFO of Ethicon, a global leader in surgical medical devices
and a Johnson & Johnson (J&J) company. Ms. Adler previously served as
vice president of corporate communications for Millennium: The Takeda
Oncology Company. Michael Higgins, who was CFO and chief operating
officer (COO) of Ironwood, has decided to leave the company but plans to
remain as COO through December 2014 to ensure a smooth transition.
“As Ironwood executes on our strategy of building a leading GI company,
we are judiciously adding new capabilities to enable continued growth
while improving the effectiveness and productivity of the organization,”
said Peter Hecht, chief executive officer of Ironwood. “We’re incredibly
fortunate to have experienced industry leaders like Tom and Lisa join
our executive team, and we look forward to their contributions as we
seek to maximize the potential of our marketed and investigational
medicines to create value for patients and for our fellow shareholders.”
“Michael has been instrumental in building Ironwood: he has been a
critical force in setting our strategy and establishing the solid
financial base on which we brought our first medicine to patients. He
has decided to look for a greater challenge outside of Ironwood and will
be missed,” Mr. Hecht added.
Prior to joining Ironwood, Mr. Graney spent 20 years working with J&J
and its affiliates, most recently serving for four years as worldwide
vice president of finance and CFO of Ethicon. In addition, Mr. Graney
has extensive global experience that spans corporate development,
commercial strategy, portfolio management and supply chain management. A
Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder, Mr. Graney holds a B.S. in
accounting from the University of Delaware and an M.B.A. in marketing,
finance and international business from the Leonard N. Stern School of
Business at New York University.
Ms. Adler brings to Ironwood more than 25 years of experience in
corporate branding and healthcare communications, most recently serving
as the vice president of corporate communications at Millennium
Pharmaceuticals, now a part of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. In
this role, she designed and implemented global communications strategies
to enhance the value of the company, its marketed products and its
pipeline. Her responsibilities encompassed corporate reputation
management, brand public relations, digital communications, investor
relations, corporate social responsibility, patient advocacy and
employee communications. Prior to joining Millennium, Ms. Adler held
communications positions with Feinstein Kean Healthcare, a public
relations agency and an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company, and with J&J. She
holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
About Ironwood Pharmaceuticals
Ironwood Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IRWD) is focused on creating medicines
that make a difference for patients, building value to earn the
continued support of our fellow shareholders, and empowering our team to
passionately pursue excellence. We discovered, developed and are
commercializing linaclotide, which is approved in the United States and
a number of other countries. Our pipeline priorities include exploring
further opportunities for linaclotide, as well as leveraging our
therapeutic expertise in gastrointestinal disorders and our
pharmacologic expertise in guanylate cyclases to address patient needs
across the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. Ironwood was founded
in 1998 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass. Connect with us at www.ironwoodpharma.com
or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ironwoodpharma;
information that may be important to investors will be routinely posted
in both these locations.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, including, but not limited to, statements about Ironwood’s
leadership, management transition plans, management compensation,
growth, business strategy, productivity and the potential of its
marketed and investigational medicines and their impact. Each
forward-looking statement is subject to risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or
implied in such statement. Applicable risks and uncertainties include,
but are not limited to, those related to pre-clinical and clinical
development, manufacturing, and formulation development; decisions made
by regulatory authorities; decisions made by the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office and its foreign counterparts; intellectual property
rights of competitors or potential competitors; efficacy, safety and
tolerability; competition in disease states; the commercial potential of
Ironwood’s product and product candidates; the risk that Ironwood may
never get sufficient patent protection for its product and product
candidates; the risk that Ironwood’s planned investments do not have the
anticipated effect on Ironwood’s revenues, or its product or product
candidates; the risk that Ironwood is unable to manage its operating
expenses over the year due to foreseeable or unforeseeable events or
occurrences; and the risks presented by future business decisions made
by Ironwood and its competitors or potential competitors. Applicable
risks also include those that are listed under the heading “Risk
Factors” and elsewhere in Ironwood’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for
the quarter ended June 30, 2014, in addition to the risk factors that
are listed from time to time in Ironwood’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K,
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and any other subsequent SEC filings.
Ironwood undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press
release. Except as otherwise noted, these forward-looking statements
speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking
statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
Copyright Business Wire 2014