Copenhagen, 2014-11-07 08:30 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
- Zealand appoints Britt Meelby Jensen as new Chief Executive Officer as of 15 January 2015. Britt comes from a previous position as Chief Executive Officer in Agilent-owned Dako and before that was Corporate Vice President at Novo Nordisk
- David H. Solomon has contributed significantly to build a mature business at Zealand over the past 6 years and will stay on to effect a smooth transition to the incoming CEO
Copenhagen, 7 November 2014 – Zealand Pharma A/S (“Zealand”) has appointed Britt Meelby Jensen as new Chief Executive Officer of Zealand. She will take up the position on 15 January 2015, where she replaces David H. Solomon, who will stay on until then to effect a smooth transition.
Britt Meelby Jensen has 11 years of international experience from Novo Nordisk. Since April 2013 she has headed the Agilent-owned diagnostics company, Dako, as the company’s Chief Executive Officer.
Commenting on this announcement, David H. Solomon, outgoing President and CEO of Zealand, said:
“Zealand is entering a new phase in its development, where the company will focus more on late-stage development and pre-commercialization of proprietary pipeline products. This requires a CEO with a different profile and experience. I am glad to have contributed to the growth and maturity of Zealand’s business and look forward to new challenges. I am certain that Britt Meelby Jensen will contribute her significant marketing and operational experience to Zealand’s continued development.”
Daniël Jan Ellens, Chairman of Zealand’s Board of Directors, added: “We are thankful for the tremendous work David has put into Zealand in the past six years and the results achieved. Under his leadership, the company was taken public, and his experience and visionary capacity have built the business and the pipeline including innovative partnerships and brought the company to its current position, representing a strong basis for further growth.”
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For further information, please contact:
David H. Solomon, President and Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +45 22 20 63 00
Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Tel: +45 50 60 36 89, email: hlh@zealandpharma.com
About Zealand Pharma
Zealand Pharma A/S (“Zealand”) (Nasdaq Copenhagen: ZEAL) is a biotechnology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Zealand has leading expertise in the discovery, design and development of novel peptide medicines, in-house competences in clinical trial design and management and a therapeutic focus on cardio-metabolic diseases. The company has a broad portfolio of therapeutic products – both proprietary and partnered.
Zealand’s first invented medicine, lixisenatide, a once-daily prandial GLP-1 agonist for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes, is marketed as Lyxumia® world-wide ex-US and also in Phase III development as a single-injection combination with Lantus® (LixiLan), both under a global license agreement with Sanofi. US regulatory filings for both products are planned for 2015 ─ summer for Lyxumia® and as early as end 2015 for LixiLan.
Zealand is advancing a pipeline of proprietary, next-generation therapies, including danegaptide (prevention of Ischemic Reperfusion Injury) in addition to several preclinical programs. Partnering represents an important component of strategy to leverage in-house expertise, share development risk in large clinical trials, provide funding and commercialize the company’s products. Zealand currently has global license agreements and partnerships with Sanofi, Helsinn Healthcare, Boehringer Ingelheim and Eli Lilly.
For further information: www.zealandpharma.com Follow us on Twitter @ZealandPharma
