ROCKVILLE, Md., June 22, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT:RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced the appointment of Peter Brandt as Chairman of the Board. Dr. Chang Ahn, Rexahn’s founder, will remain on the Board as Chairman Emeritus and will continue in his role as the company’s Chief Scientist.
A Director of Rexahn since 2010, Mr.Brandt previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Noven Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical in 2009. Prior to leading Noven, he spent 28 years at Pfizer, most recently serving as President – U.S. Pharmaceuticals Operations where he helped deliver revenue and earnings growth while engineering important change initiatives within Pfizer’s U.S. pharmaceuticals operations. Mr.Brandt holds a BA from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from the Columbia School of Business.
Mr. Brandt commented “I am extremely pleased to be appointed Chairman of the Board of Rexahn at this exciting time in its development. With a broad portfolio of novel, potentially best-in-class cancer therapeutics advancing, including, Archexin® currently in a Phase IIa clinical trial in metastatic renal cell carcinoma, and Supinoxin™ and RX-3117 poised to enter Phase Ib/IIa clinical proof of concept studies, Rexahn is positioned to create significant shareholder value over the near-term.”
Dr. Ahn, who has served as Chairman of the Board of Directors since the company’s inception, will continue to focus on advancing Rexahn’s preclinical pipeline in his role as Chief Scientist. Dr. Ahn commented, “Since founding Rexahn, I have strived to create a portfolio of targeted therapeutics for the treatment of cancer with the ultimate goal of improving the lives of patients. With our products now poised to commence important proof-of-concept studies, appointing Peter as Chairman of the Board at this time is a critical step in the evolution of Rexahn from an early stage clinical development company to a late stage company focused on maximizing the commercial potential of its products. I am confident that Peter’s extensive operational and commercial pharmaceutical experience will be invaluable as we make this significant transition.”
“As a Board member, Peter has played an important role in helping to refocus Rexahn’s activities in the oncology area. I look forward to working closely with him in his new role as Chairman, where he is uniquely qualified to help facilitate our transition to a late stage clinical biopharmaceutical company,” added Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Rexahn.
About Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rexahn Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Rexahn currently has three clinical stage oncology candidates, SupinoxinTM (RX-5902), RX-3117 and Archexin® and a robust pipeline of preclinical compounds to treat multiple types of cancer. Rexahn has also developed proprietary drug discovery platform technologies in the areas of Nano-Polymer-Drug Conjugate Systems (NPDCS), nano-medicines, 3D-GOLD, and TIMES. For more information, please visit www.rexahn.com.
Safe Harbor
To the extent any statements made in this press release deal with information that is not historical, these are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Rexahn’s plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to cash flow requirements, future operations and products, enrollments in clinical trials, the path of clinical trials and development activities, and other statements identified by words such as “will,” “potential,” “could,” “can,” “believe,” “intends,” “continue,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “may,” other words of similar meaning or the use of future dates. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Uncertainties and risks may cause Rexahn’s actual results to be materially different than those expressed in or implied by Rexahn’s forward-looking statements. For Rexahn, particular uncertainties and risks include, among others, the difficulty of developing pharmaceutical products, obtaining regulatory and other approvals and achieving market acceptance; the success and design of clinical testing; and Rexahn’s need for and ability to obtain additional financing. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Rexahn’s actual results are described in Rexahn’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release. Rexahn undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.