Verona Pharma has announced that Kenneth Newman, a former Acton Pharmaceuticals CMO and former Boehringer Ingelheim VP, Medical Affairs, will become Verona’s Chief Medical Officer as of January 1. At Acton, Newman headed up clinical development and regulatory activities for several OINDPs. Acton was acquired by Meda in 2013.
The new position will be based in the US, and the company said that it has also created a US subsidiary called Verona Pharma, Inc. In September 2014, Verona Pharma said that it can fund development of its lead candidate, RPL554, an inhaled PDE3/PDE4 inhibitor for the treatment of respiratory diseases, up to the start of Phase 2b.
Verona Pharma CEO Jan-Anders Karlsson commented, “I am delighted that Dr. Newman will be joining Verona Pharma in the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer, based in the US. His extensive experience in the clinical development of respiratory drugs, including his success in securing regulatory approvals, will be invaluable as we progress our lead drug, RPL554, in the clinic and through to commercialization. This first-in-class PDE3/4 inhibitor is currently in Phase 2 development as a nebulised treatment for acute exacerbations in COPD and asthma. This is an area of high unmet medical need with an addressable market that is estimated to be in excess of $1 billion in the US alone.”
Read the Verona Pharma press release.
