AEON Biopharma Announces the Appointment of Alex Wilson as General Counsel


NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Aug. 11, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AEON Biopharma, Inc., a private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of its proprietary botulinum toxin complex ABP-450 (prabotulinumtoxinA) injection for therapeutic indications, today announced the appointment of Alex Wilson to the role of General Counsel.

“We are pleased to welcome Alex to our team. His experience across a wide range of complex legal and corporate matters, will help guide the company as we look to advance our therapeutic-only focused development of ABP-450 injection for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions, including migraine and gastroparesis,” said Marc Forth, Chief Executive Officer of AEON Biopharma. “We are excited with the progress made in the development of ABP-450 and our path to executing our clinical and regulatory strategy has crystalized in recent months.”

“I am proud to join AEON at this exciting time in the company’s history. I look forward to assisting this outstanding team and contributing to the progress already made to provide an important treatment option to patients suffering from migraine and gastroparesis,” stated Mr. Wilson.

Prior to joining AEON, Alex served as Associate General Counsel, Business Development & Sustainability at Glaukos Corporation. At Glaukos, he was responsible for a broad range of legal matters, including business development activities, capital markets, corporate governance, and SEC reporting. In addition, he advised on certain marketing, clinical, market access, regulatory, and compliance matters. Previously, Alex worked as a corporate attorney in the Newport Beach office of O’Melveny & Myers. He earned his B.S. from Brigham Young University and his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law, where he was a Dean’s Scholar.

About ABP-450 (prabotulinumtoxinA) Injection

ABP-450 contains a 900 kDa botulinum toxin type-A complex produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum. The active part of the botulinum toxin is the 150 kDa component, and the remaining 750 kDa of the complex is made up of accessory proteins that the company believes help with the function of the active portion of the botulinum toxin. When injected at therapeutic levels, ABP-450 blocks peripheral acetylcholine release at presynaptic cholinergic nerve terminals by cleaving SNAP-25, a protein integral to the successful docking and release of acetylcholine from vesicles situated within the nerve endings leading to denervation and relaxation of the muscle.

ABP-450 is the same botulinum toxin complex that has been approved by regulatory authorities in the United States, the European Union and Canada for an aesthetic indication. To support this aesthetic indication, Daewoong’s aesthetic partner completed rigorous clinical development programs using Botox® as an active comparator and consistently showed that ABP-450 was non-inferior to Botox® at doses ranging from 20 units to 360 units.

AEON Biopharma licenses ABP-450 from Daewoong and possesses exclusive development and distribution rights for ABP-450 for therapeutic indications in the United States, Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and certain other international territories. Daewoong has constructed a facility in South Korea for the purposes of producing ABP-450, which was purpose-built to comply with FDA and EMA regulations.

About AEON Biopharma

AEON Biopharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing ABP-450 (prabotulinumtoxinA) injection for the treatment of debilitating medical conditions with an initial focus on the neurology and gastroenterology markets. The company is dedicated to innovation in the rapidly expanding therapeutic botulinum toxin market and believes its therapeutic-only focus will allow AEON Biopharma to advance safe and effective treatment options to patients, while delivering differentiated economics to payors and physicians. The company continues to evaluate additional therapeutic indications for development based on a comprehensive product assessment process designed to identify those indications where it believes ABP-450 can attain clinical, regulatory, and commercial success. More information about AEON can be found at www.aeonbiopharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management’s believe and assumptions and on information currently available to management. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company or its industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential” or other comparable terminology. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed forward-looking, including any statements about current or planned clinical trials or related milestones; any projections of financial information; any statements about historical results that may suggest trends for the company’s business; any statements of the plans, strategies, and objectives of management for future operations; any statements of expectation or belief regarding future events, potential markets or market size, or technology developments; and any statements of assumptions underlying any of the items mentioned. The company has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections. While the company believes these expectations, assumptions, estimates, and projections are reasonable, such forward-looking statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company’s control. These and other important factors may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, the company assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements or to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the company’s expectations.

AEON Biopharma, Inc. Contacts:

Company Contact:
Chris Carr, AEON Biopharma
Chief Financial Officer
+1 949 354 6439
cc@aeonbiopharma.com

Investor Contact:
Corey Davis, Ph.D.
LifeSci Advisors
+1 212 915 2577
cdavis@lifesciadvisors.com