KANSAS CITY, Kan. and BOSTON, Nov. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PETX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the licensing, development and commercialization of innovative medications for pets, today announced that it has appointed Craig Tooman to the position of Chief Financial Officer and named John C. Ayres as its General Counsel. Louise Mawhinney, former CFO of Aratana, will remain with the company.
Steven St. Peter, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aratana Therapeutics stated, "Aratana has grown considerably over the past year, having successfully completed our initial public offering in June and now, with the acquisition of Vet Therapeutics, becoming a commercial company. The appointments of Craig Tooman and John Ayres, both highly experienced commercial biopharmaceutical executives, will substantially enhance our strategy to establish Aratana as the industry leader in pet therapeutics. I'm extremely pleased to welcome Craig and John to our executive team and look forward to benefitting from their depth of knowledge and strategic vision."
A seasoned pharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of industry experience, Mr. Tooman is widely versed in international finance, sales, market research, business intelligence, corporate strategy, M&A and investor relations. Immediately prior to his joining the executive team, Mr. Tooman had served as a Director and Chairman of Aratana's Audit Committee; he served as a member of the Board of Directors from March 2012 until his appointment as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Tooman will also transition from his current position of CEO of Avanzar Medical, Inc., an oncology company, to focus on Aratana.
Previously, Mr. Tooman held executive positions at large pharmaceutical companies, including Pharmacia and Upjohn, and served as the CFO of Enzon Pharmaceuticals and Ikaria. While at ILEX Oncology, Mr. Tooman was a member of the executive team and was instrumental in transitioning the company from a CRO into a proprietary business responsible for developing successful oncology products. This strategic transformation ultimately led to ILEX being sold to Genzyme Corporation for $1.1 billion.
Mr. Ayres joins Aratana from Amgen Inc. where he served as a member of the Corporate and Securities Law group for the world's largest independent biotechnology company. Within Amgen, Mr. Ayres advised the company's finance, human resources, investor relations and corporate communications groups. Prior to Amgen, Mr. Ayres was an associate at Latham & Watkins LLP where he specialized in public company counsel, including SEC compliance, initial public and follow-on stock offerings and mergers and acquisitions.
About Aratana Therapeutics
Aratana Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the licensing, development and commercialization of innovative medications for pets, or pet therapeutics. Aratana believes that it can leverage the investment in the human biopharmaceutical industry to bring therapeutics to pets in a capital and time efficient manner. Aratana's strategy is to in-license proprietary compounds from human biopharmaceutical companies and to develop these product candidates into therapeutics specifically for use in pets. Aratana believes the development and commercialization of these therapeutics will permit veterinarians and pet owners to manage pets' medical needs safely and effectively, resulting in longer and improved quality of life for pets. For more information, please visit www.aratana.com.
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the company becoming a commercial company; the appointments of Messrs. Tooman and Ayres substantially enhancing our strategy to establish Aratana as the industry's leader; the expansion of our commercial infrastructure; expectations regarding development programs, trials, studies, and approval; expectations regarding in-license initiatives; and expectations regarding the company's plans and opportunities.
These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our limited operating history and expectations of losses for the foreseeable future; our lack of commercial sales; our failure to obtain any necessary additional financing; our substantial dependence on the success of our current compounds, AT-001, AT-002 and AT-003, which are still in development; our inability to identify, license, develop and commercialize additional product candidates; our inability to obtain regulatory approval for our existing or future product candidates; the lack of commercial success of our current or future product candidates; uncertainties regarding the outcomes of studies regarding our products; effects of competition; our failure to attract and keep senior management and key scientific personnel; our complete reliance on third-party manufacturers and third parties to conduct all our target animal studies and certain other development efforts; our lack of a sales organization; our significant costs of operating as a public company; our lack of effective internal control over financial reporting; changes in distribution channels for pet therapeutics; consolidation of our customers; impacts of generic products; unanticipated safety or efficacy concerns; our limited patents and patent rights; our failure to comply with our intellectual property license obligations; our infringement of third party patents and challenges to our patents or rights; our failure to comply with regulatory requirements; our failure to report adverse medical events related to our products; legislative or regulatory changes; the volatility of our stock price; our status as an "emerging growth company," as defined in the JOBS Act; the potential for dilution if we sell shares of our common stock in future financings; the significant control over our business by our principal stockholders and management; the potential that a significant portion of our total outstanding shares could be sold into the market in the near future; effects of anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law; and our intention not to pay dividends. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, and our other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Contacts:
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Joshua Drumm, Ph.D. (investors)
jdrumm@tiberend.com; (212) 375-2664
Andrew Mielach (media)
amielach@tiberend.com; (212) 375-2694
SOURCE Aratana Therapeutics, Inc.