LONDON and RALEIGH, N.C., Aug. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verona Pharma plc (Nasdaq: VRNA) (“Verona Pharma”), announces effective September 1, 2023, Ms. Christina Ackermann will join the board as a Non-Executive Director.

Ms. Ackermann brings over 25 years of legal and management experience across the pharmaceutical, device and consumer products industries. Most recently, she served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Global President Ophthalmic Pharmaceuticals at Bausch + Lomb Corporation where she was responsible for strategic planning and worldwide commercialization of pharmaceutical prescription assets across the portfolio as well as global legal affairs. Previously, Ms. Ackermann was part of the Novartis group of companies for 14 years where she served in multiple leadership roles of increasing responsibility including Global Head, Legal and General Counsel of Alcon and Sandoz. Earlier in her career, Ms. Ackermann held Associate General Counsel roles at both Bristol-Myers Squibb and DuPont Pharmaceuticals.

“We are pleased to welcome Christina to the Board,” said Dr. David Ebsworth, Chairperson of Verona Pharma. “Her broad expertise and leadership across commercial, legal affairs and compliance will be key as we prepare for the potential commercialization of ensifentrine.”

Ms. Ackermann currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Oculis Holding AG. She holds a Post Graduate Diploma in EC Competition Law from King’s College at the University of London, UK, and a LLB from Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada.

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About Verona Pharma

Verona Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for the treatment of chronic respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs. If successfully developed and approved, Verona Pharma’s product candidate, ensifentrine, has the potential to be the first non-steroidal therapy for the treatment of respiratory diseases that combines bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory activities in one compound. The Company has evaluated nebulized ensifentrine in its Phase 3 clinical program ENHANCE (“Ensifentrine as a Novel inHAled Nebulized COPD thErapy”) for COPD maintenance treatment. Ensifentrine met the primary endpoint in both ENHANCE-1 and ENHANCE-2 trials demonstrating statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in lung function. In addition, ensifentrine substantially reduced the rate and risk of COPD exacerbations in pooled analysis from ENHANCE-1 and ENHANCE-2. In the second quarter of 2023, Verona Pharma submitted a New Drug Application (“NDA”) to the US Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) for ensifentrine for the maintenance treatment of patients with COPD.Two additional formulations of ensifentrine have been evaluated in Phase 2 trials for the treatment of COPD: dry powder inhaler (“DPI”) and pressurized metered-dose inhaler (“pMDI”). Ensifentrine has potential applications in cystic fibrosis, asthma and other respiratory diseases. For more information, please visit www.veronapharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from our expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.