Genmab Announces Change in Management
15 June 2010 - 6:33PM
Summary: Dr. Lisa N. Drakeman retires from her position as Chief
Executive and as member of the board of directors of Genmab. Genmab
A/S (Copenhagen:GEN) announced today that its co-founder, Lisa N.
Drakeman, Ph.D. retires from her position as Chief Executive
Officer of and as member of the board of directors of Genmab. Under
her leadership, Genmab raised over USD 1 billion in capital,
completed the largest initial public offering of any biotech
company in Europe, received the annual James D. Watson Helix Award
as the best international biotechnology company in 2005 and was
named as the Biotechnology Company of the Year in 2007, formed
alliances with a number of leading pharmaceutical companies, and
received regulatory approval in the United States and Europe for
Arzerra®, a new treatment for patients with fludarabine and
alemtuzumab refractory CLL. The Chief Executive Officer position at
Genmab will be filled by Prof. Jan G.J. van de Winkel, Ph.D., the
company's former President, Research and Development and Chief
Scientific Officer, effective as of today. Dr. van de Winkel has
over 20 years of experience in the therapeutic antibody field and
served as Scientific Director and Vice President of Medarex Europe
prior to co-founding Genmab. "Lisa's vision and leadership built
Genmab into a leading biotechnology company. We are grateful to
Lisa for her many accomplishments and for her many years of hard
work and dedicated service to the company. We wish her a happy and
relaxing retirement," said Michael Widmer, Ph.D., Chairman of the
board of directors.
Conference Call Genmab will
hold a conference call to discuss today's news on June 16, 2010 at
4:00 PM CEST 3:00 PM BST 10:00 AM EST The conference call will be
held in English. The dial-in numbers will be published on Genmab's
website tomorrow on June 16, 2010. To listen to a live webcast of
the call please visit www.genmab.com.
About Genmab
A/S Genmab is a leading international biotechnology
company focused on developing fully human antibody therapeutics for
the potential treatment of cancer. Genmab's world class discovery
and development teams are using cutting-edge technology to create
and develop products to address unmet medical needs. Our primary
goal is to improve the lives of patients who are in urgent need of
new treatment options. For more information on Genmab's products
and technology, visit www.genmab.com. This Stock Exchange Release
contains forward looking statements. The words "believe", "expect",
"anticipate", "intend" and "plan" and similar expressions identify
forward looking statements. Actual results or performance may
differ materially from any future results or performance expressed
or implied by such statements. The important factors that could
cause our actual results or performance to differ materially
include, among others, risks associated with product discovery and
development, uncertainties related to the outcome and conduct of
clinical trials including unforeseen safety issues, uncertainties
related to product manufacturing, the lack of market acceptance of
our products, our inability to manage growth, the competitive
environment in relation to our business area and markets, our
inability to attract and retain suitably qualified personnel, the
unenforceability or lack of protection of our patents and
proprietary rights, our relationships with affiliated entities,
changes and developments in technology which may render our
products obsolete, and other factors. For a further discussion of
these risks, please refer to the section "Risk Management" in
Genmab's Annual Report, which is available on www.genmab.com.
Genmab does not undertake any obligation to update or revise
forward looking statements in this Stock Exchange Release nor to
confirm such statements in relation to actual results, unless
required by law. Genmab®; the Y-shaped Genmab logo®; HuMax®;
HuMax-CD20®; HuMax-EGFr™; HuMax-IL8™; HuMax-TAC™; HuMax-HepC™;
HuMax-CD38™; HuMax-CD32b™; HuMax-TF™; HuMax-Her2™; HuMax-VEGF™;
HuMax-Wnt; HuMax-cMet™ and UniBody® are all trademarks of Genmab
A/S. Arzerra® is a trademark of GlaxoSmithKline.
CONTACT: Genmab A/S
Helle Husted, Vice President, Investor Relations
+45 33 44 77 30
Mobile: +45 25 27 47 13
h.husted@genmab.com