Press release – 7 / 2024
Zealand Pharma Appoints Eric Cox as Chief Commercial Officer
Copenhagen, Denmark, 29 July 2024 – Zealand Pharma A/S (Nasdaq Copenhagen: ZEAL) (CVR-no. 20045078), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of innovative peptide-based medicines, today announced the appointment of Eric Cox as Zealand’s Chief Commercial Officer starting August 5, 2024. Eric will join the executive team to lead Zealand’s commercial strategy and assume responsibility for business development.
Eric brings 25 years of commercial experience from biotech and leading global biopharma companies that includes pre-commercial planning, product and portfolio strategy, business development, and launch strategy. Most recently, Eric was at Carmot Therapeutics (a member of the Roche Group), where he led commercial strategy and business development for the obesity and metabolism franchise. Previously, he was the U.S. commercial franchise leader for diabetes, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease at AstraZeneca. Before AstraZeneca, Eric spent more than 15 years at Merck, where he was the global franchise leader (marketing) for the cardiovascular and rare disease franchise, leading global and regional teams responsible for pipeline and in-line commercial strategy for marketed and pre-commercial assets. While at Merck, Eric co-led a product development team to develop clinical trial designs for products throughout the lifecycle and held leadership marketing positions for large markets including the contraceptive franchise, atherothrombosis and the U.S. cholesterol franchise. He has also held marketing positions of increasing responsibility at Bayer, Johnson & Johnson, and TAP Pharmaceuticals. Eric received an M.B.A. in marketing and finance from Missouri State University and a B.A. from the University of Kansas.
“We are delighted to welcome Eric to Zealand as our Chief Commercial Officer,” said Adam Steensberg, Chief Executive Officer, Zealand Pharma. “Eric’s experience and track record further strengthen our team as we explore co-development and co-commercial opportunities for our differentiated obesity assets advancing into comprehensive Phase 2b trials and our rare disease programs approaching regulatory decisions.”
“I am excited to be joining Zealand Pharma with its robust pipeline of next generation obesity candidates,” said Eric Cox. “I look forward to working with the team as Zealand seeks to play a key role in shaping the evolving market for weight management with next generation product candidates.”
About Zealand Pharma A/S
Zealand Pharma A/S is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of peptide-based medicines. More than 10 drug candidates invented by Zealand have advanced into clinical development, of which two have reached the market and three candidates are in late-stage development. The Company has development partnerships with several pharma companies as well as commercial partnerships for its marketed products.
Zealand was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, with a presence in the U.S. For more information about Zealand’s business and activities, please visit www.zealandpharma.com.
Forward looking statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements”, as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 in the United States, as amended, even though no longer listed in the United States this is used as a definition to provide Zealand Pharma’s expectations or forecasts of future events regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, the timing of the company’s pre-clinical and clinical trials and the reporting of data therefrom. These forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “will,” “would” and other words and terms of similar meaning. You should not place undue reliance on these statements, or the scientific data presented. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and inaccurate assumptions, which may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations set forth herein and may cause any or all of such forward-looking statements to be incorrect, and which include, but are not limited to, unexpected costs or delays in clinical trials and other development activities due to adverse safety events, patient recruitment or otherwise; unexpected concerns that may arise from additional data, analysis or results obtained during clinical trials; our ability to successfully market both new and existing products; changes in reimbursement rules and governmental laws and related interpretation thereof; government-mandated or market-driven price decreases for our products; introduction of competing products; production problems at third party manufacturers; dependency on third parties, for instance contract research or development organizations; unexpected growth in costs and expenses; our ability to effect the strategic reorganization of our businesses in the manner planned; failure to protect and enforce our data, intellectual property and other proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to intellectual property claims and challenges; regulatory authorities may require additional information or further studies, or may reject, fail to approve or may delay approval of our drug candidates or expansion of product labeling; failure to obtain regulatory approvals in other jurisdictions; exposure to product liability and other claims; interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; unexpected contract breaches or terminations; inflationary pressures on the global economy; and political uncertainty, including the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and the uncertainty surrounding upcoming elections in the US. If any or all of such forward-looking statements prove to be incorrect, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. The foregoing sets forth many, but not all, of the factors that could cause actual results to differ from our expectations in any forward-looking statement. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this company announcement and are based on information available to Zealand Pharma as of the date of this announcement. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. Information concerning pharmaceuticals (including compounds under development) contained within this material is not intended as advertising or medical advice.
Contact:
Adam Lange
Investor Relations Officer
Zealand Pharma
Email: akl@zealandpharma.com
Anna Krassowska, PhD
Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications
Zealand Pharma
Email: ank@zealandpharma.com
