LEIDEN, Netherlands, Oct. 24, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biotech company Pharming Group N.V. ("Pharming" or "the Company") (Euronext: PHARM) (PHARM.AS) announced today that it has appointed Mr. Wim J. E. Burgemeestre as Head of Finance and Administration effective October 24, 2005.
Mr. Burgemeestre succeeds Mr. Frans Ooms who has been with Pharming since mid 2001 and has played an important role in the financial restructuring of the Company. The operational activities of Frans Ooms were transferred on July 1, 2005 with the appointment of Mr. John Pieters to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), which was ratified at an Extraordinary General Meeting of shareholders on September 16, 2005. Mr. Ooms has stepped down as Chief Financial Officer at Pharming to spend more time with his financial services consultancy company FOMAB.
Mr. Burgemeestre has an extensive business career which includes management, finance and administration assignments with several Dutch companies, including as audit manager at Akzo Nobel and more recently as Managing Director at BDI B.V., a dairy company. In addition, he has experience with a number of European acquisitions and is an alumnus of the INSEAD Advanced Management Program.
"We would like to thank Frans for his valuable contributions in the financial and operational turnaround of Pharming," said Mr. John Pieters, COO of Pharming. "We wish him success for the future and look forward to working with Wim to support the Company in the coming phase of growth."
Background on Pharming Group N.V.
Pharming Group N.V. is developing innovative protein products for unmet needs. The Company's products include potential treatments for genetic disorders, specialty products for surgical indications, intermediates for various applications and food products. Pharming has two products in late stage development -- recombinant human C1 inhibitor for hereditary angioedema (Phase III) and recombinant human lactoferrin for food use. The advanced technologies of the Company include innovative platforms for the production of protein therapeutics, as well as technology and processes for the purification and formulation of these products. Additional information is available on the Pharming website, http://www.pharming.com.
This press release contains forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements. The press release also appears in Dutch. In the event of any inconsistency, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.