CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 27, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR), an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat severe lipid disorders, announced the appointment of Paul J. Merrigan as Vice President of Global Marketing.
Mr. Merrigan was most recently Vice President and General Manager of Neuromuscular Diseases at Genzyme Corporation, where he was responsible for the global launch and commercialization of Myozyme® for Pompe disease. Mr. Merrigan held several prior positions within Genzyme, including Vice President, Global Marketing Strategy, Hereditary Angioedema; Senior Director, Global Marketing, Gaucher Disease; Director, Health Economics & Outcomes Assessment; and Associate Director, Clinical Marketing Programs. Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Merrigan held positions at Genentech, Inc. in various capacities within sales, marketing and health outcomes in the cardiovascular and cystic fibrosis disease areas. In addition to Myozyme, he has worked on the strategic marketing development, launch and successful commercialization of several orphan drugs, including Pulmozyme®, Cerezyme® and Kalbitor®.
"Paul's experience commercializing many well regarded orphan drugs makes him ideally suited to lead the global launch of lomitapide," said Chief Executive Officer Marc D. Beer. "During his tenure with Genzyme, Paul was responsible for their most successful orphan product launch to date. He brings further worldwide orphan drug development experience as we seek to obtain marketing approval and commercialize lomitapide."
About Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AEGR) is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics to treat severe lipid disorders. The Company's lead product, lomitapide, is in Phase III clinical development. Lomitapide is initially being developed to treat patients with a rare genetic lipid disorder called homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, or HoFH. The Company also plans to initiate a clinical program for lomitapide to treat patients with a severe genetic form of hypertriglyceridemia called familial chylomicronemia (FC).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the ongoing development of the Company's product candidates and the expected timing of regulatory filings. The forward-looking statements in this release do not constitute guarantees of future performance. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: our history of operating losses; our potential need for additional capital to fund operations and develop our product candidates; uncertainties associated with the clinical development and associated regulatory filings of our product candidates, including the risk that our regulatory filings may not be accepted by the applicable regulatory authorities or that such acceptance may be delayed, the risk that our product candidates may not be approved for any indication, or if approved, the risk that the finally approved definition of the targeted patient populations for our product candidates may be narrower than we expect; risks associated with undesirable side effects experienced by some patients in clinical trials for our product candidates; risks associated with our lack of sales and marketing experience; the highly competitive industry in which we operate; risks associated with our intellectual property rights and the extent to which such intellectual property rights protect our product candidates; the risk that third parties may allege that we infringe their intellectual property rights or that we have failed to comply with the provisions of our in-license agreements; risks associated with our reliance on third parties, in particular clinical research organizations and contract manufacturers; risks associated with our ability to recruit, hire and retain qualified personnel; risks associated with our reliance on certain key personnel; and risks associated with volatility in our stock price as a newly public company. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by the Company, see the disclosure contained in the Company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's final prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b)(4) dated June 23, 2011 under the heading "Risk Factors" and available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.