Health & Fitness
Health and Fitness
Health and Fitness
Thu, January 22, 2009
Wed, January 21, 2009 Abraxis BioScience Names Merck Veteran Van der Ploeg to Lead R&D and Drug Development Efforts at Abraxis Health
LOS ANGELES--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--Abraxis BioScience, Inc. (NASDAQ:ABII), a fully integrated, global biotechnology company, today announced that in connection with its strategic plan to spin-off Abraxis Health, it has named Lex H.T. Van der Ploeg, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Integrative Medicine and Translational Science. Abraxis Health will be dedicated to becoming a next-generation, evidence-based, personalized healthcare company.
At Abraxis Health, Dr. Van der Ploeg will be responsible for building and integrating the company's evidenced-based medicine capabilities, drug-discovery efforts and external partnerships that will serve as the foundation through which it will deliver personalized healthcare to patients. "My goal is to build and enable a dynamic research and development organization within Abraxis Health. Essential to accomplishing this is the ability to develop and empower people, thus fostering innovation and a collaborative research mindset," said Dr. Van der Ploeg.
"Dr. Van der Ploeg joins Abraxis Health with a stellar business and academic pedigree and a profound interest in advancing patient access, compliance and care through vibrant research in new technologies and drug delivery methodologies," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abraxis BioScience. "His passion and experience is well aligned with that of our growing team and we look forward to his many contributions as we seek to establish a new paradigm in medical care."
Dr. Van der Ploeg has more than 25 years of experience in enzymology, biochemistry and genetics, the larger portion of which has been focused on drug discovery and development research with Merck Research Laboratories. From 2004 to 2008, as Vice President, Basic Research, and Site Head, he opened and established the new Merck Research Laboratory in Boston. Prior to that, Dr. Van der Ploeg held diverse functions at Merck Research Laboratories in obesity and metabolism, oncology, and neurodegenerative disease research, among other areas. He joined Merck Research Laboratories in 1991.
Dr. Van der Ploeg also holds an adjunct faculty position at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City, the institution where he devoted much of his academic career since 1984. Prior to that he was Course Lecturer at University of Amsterdam, where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1984.
Dr. Van der Ploeg earned his M.S. degree in biochemistry from the University of Amsterdam and his Ph.D. in biochemistry/enzymology/genetics from the University of Amsterdam/Netherlands Cancer Research Center. He has received numerous awards and grants for his research and has published over 200 research articles. He is also named on more than 50 patents and patent applications.
About Abraxis Health – Pioneering Personalized Medicine
Abraxis Health believes that the era of predictive, personalized evidence-based medicine has emerged. As such, the company intends to focus on generating biological systems and advancing personalized medicine through strategic alliances and internal development. Its strategic focus will be to identify compounds with specific activity linked to specific biological markers related to specific disease states.
The company's R&D program will be led by a team of discovery scientists, medicinal chemists and formulation scientists who will devote their efforts to advancing molecules from the lab to the clinic. Additionally, the company is expected to establish a global healthcare infrastructure with seamless communication among its various components, including: a network of tissue resources; a national tissue repository; next-generation diagnostic and molecular interrogation techniques; validated and quantitative norms to differentiate normal from disease states; a network of clinical sites working in collaboration to identify cohorts of patients with similar abnormal molecular profiles; and iterative clinical testing program to evaluate drugs based on activity against the particular molecular profile; and, a bioinformatic infrastructure integrating all of these elements.
About Abraxis BioScience
Abraxis BioScience is a fully integrated global biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery, development and delivery of next-generation therapeutics and core technologies that offer patients safer and more effective treatments for cancer and other critical illnesses. The company's portfolio includes the world's first and only protein-bound chemotherapeutic compound (ABRAXANE), which is based on the company's proprietary tumor targeting technology known as the nab® platform. The first FDA approved product to use this nab® platform, ABRAXANE, was launched in 2005 for the 2nd line treatment of metastatic breast cancer following failure of combination chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Abraxis trades on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol ABII. For more information about the company and its products, please visit [ www.abraxisbio.com ].
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
The statements contained in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements in this press release include statements regarding our expectations, beliefs, hopes, goals, intentions, initiatives or strategies, including statements regarding the spin-off of Abraxis Health. Because these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward- looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks that the proposed spin-off disrupts current plans and operations and the potential difficulties in employee retention; the inability to recognize the benefits of the spin-off; and the difficulties or delays in developing, testing, obtaining regulatory approval of, and producing and marketing of their products. Additional relevant information concerning risks can be found in Abraxis BioScience's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other documents it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The information contained in this press release is as of the date of this release. Abraxis assumes no obligations to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as the result of new information or future events or developments.
