PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 20, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eurand N.V. (Nasdaq:EURX), a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug formulation technologies, today announced the appointment of Ruth Thieroff-Ekerdt, M.D., to the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer of Eurand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., effective December 1, 2008. She will be based in the Company's Yardley, Pa., office.
Dr. Thieroff-Ekerdt will have full responsibility for managing Eurand's clinical research and development, medical and regulatory affairs, and drug safety and surveillance activities.
"We are delighted to welcome Ruth to the Eurand team," said Gearoid Faherty, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to benefiting from her expertise, leadership skills and wide range of experience in all phases of drug development."
Before joining Eurand, Dr. Thieroff-Ekerdt was Vice President, Global Clinical and Medical Affairs, for Bayer Consumer Care, with responsibility for clinical development, clinical operations, medical affairs and pharmacovigilance for consumer care products worldwide. Her experience also includes positions of increasing scope and responsibility at the Berlex Inc. division of Schering AG. She began her career at Schering in research.
Dr. Thieroff-Ekerdt received her M.D. from the Free University of Berlin, Germany.
About Eurand
Eurand is a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and commercializes enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug formulation technologies. Eurand has had four products approved by the FDA since 2001 and has a pipeline of product candidates in development for itself and its collaboration partners. Eurand's technology platforms include bioavailability enhancement of poorly soluble drugs, customized release, taste-masking/fast-dissolving formulations and drug conjugation.
Eurand is a global company with facilities in the U.S. and Europe. For more information, visit Eurand's website at www.eurand.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This release, and oral statements made with respect to information contained in this release, constitutes forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include those which express plan, anticipation, intent, contingency, goals, targets or future development and/or otherwise are not statements of historical fact including, but not limited to the future and status of our NDA filing for EUR-1008, enrollment and future plans for our clinical trials, progress of and reports of results from clinical studies, clinical development plans and product development activities. The words "potentially," "anticipates," "could," "calls for" and similar expressions also identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Factors that could affect actual results include risks associated with the possibility that the FDA does not approve our NDA relating to EUR-1008 or continues to delay approval; the outcome of any discussions with the FDA; and unexpected delays or additional requirements in preparation of materials for submission to the FDA as a part of our NDA filing, including those relating to Eurand's raw material supplier. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of this date, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Actual events could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.