• Harmony P. Garges MD MPH and Menassie Taddese MBA appointed to Medexus’s board of directors
• Appointments bolster Medexus board’s medical and financial expertise, particularly in the United States

TORONTO and CHICAGO, Feb. 06, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Medexus Pharmaceuticals (Medexus) (TSX: MDP) (OTCQX: MEDXF) is pleased to welcome Harmony P. Garges MD MPH, Chief Medical Officer of ViiV Healthcare, and Menassie Taddese MBA, former executive at Pfizer and Viatris, to the Medexus board of directors.

“We are very pleased to welcome Harmony and Menassie, two experienced professionals whose skills, experience, and expertise will serve to diversify and supplement those of the current members of our board,” commented Benoit Gravel, Chair of the Compensation, Corporate Governance, and Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors.

Ken d’Entremont, Chief Executive Officer of Medexus, added, “We are thrilled to have Harmony and Menassie join our board. As we continue to evaluate new opportunities to grow our business, strengthening our team remains a priority. Harmony’s significant experience leading medical affairs and medical regulatory matters and Menassie’s strong management experience and expertise in corporate finance will undoubtedly be assets as we grow our business organically and engage in new business and corporate development initiatives.”

Dr Garges and Mr Taddese were elected to fill two newly created directorships with effect as of February 6, 2023 and will initially serve until the next annual meeting of Medexus shareholders. For more information about the Medexus board of directors, see the Governance section of Medexus’s corporate website.

About Dr Garges and Mr Taddese

Harmony P. Garges MD MPH brings 18 years of multinational pharmaceutical leadership experience in the United States and the UK to the Medexus board. Dr Garges has served as Chief Medical Officer of ViiV Healthcare since August 2019. In this role, Dr Garges is accountable for all aspects of human safety and medical governance and for the global medical affairs strategy and execution for the company. Dr Garges joined ViiV Healthcare in 2016 after spending over a decade at GSK in various leadership roles across R&D, pharmacovigilance, and medical affairs. During her career, Dr Garges has provided medical leadership for over a dozen new drug applications and new product launches.

Menassie Taddese MBA is a seasoned veteran of the biopharmaceutical industry with wide ranging experience in general management, finance, business transformation, partnership creation, and overall leadership. He brings over 26 years of experience leading large commercial and cross-functional organizations across the globe to the Medexus board.

About Medexus

Medexus is a leader in innovative and rare disease treatment solutions with a strong North American commercial platform and a portfolio of proven best-in-class products. Our current focus is on the therapeutic areas of hematology, auto-immune diseases, and allergy. We continue to build a highly differentiated company with a growing portfolio of innovative and high-value orphan and rare disease products that will underpin our growth for the next decade.

Our current leading products are IXINITY®, an intravenous recombinant factor IX therapeutic for use in patients 12 years of age or older with Hemophilia B (a hereditary bleeding disorder characterized by a deficiency of clotting factor IX in the blood, which is necessary to control bleeding); Rasuvo® and Metoject®, a unique formulation of methotrexate (auto-pen and pre-filled syringe) designed to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other auto-immune diseases; Rupall®, an innovative prescription allergy medication with a unique mode of action; and Gleolan® (aminolevulinic acid hydrochloride or ALA HCl), an FDA-approved, orphan drug designated optical imaging agent currently indicated in patients with glioma (suspected World Health Organization Grades III or IV on preoperative imaging) as an adjunct for the visualization of malignant tissue during surgery.

We have also licensed treosulfan, part of a preparative regimen for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation to be used in combination with fludarabine, for commercialization in the United States and Canada. Treosulfan was approved by Health Canada in June 2021 and is marketed in Canada as Trecondyv™. Treosulfan is currently the subject of a regulatory review process with the US Food and Drug Administration.

Our mission is to provide the best healthcare products to healthcare professionals and patients. We strive to deliver on this mission by acting on our core values: Quality, Innovation, Customer Service, and Collaboration.

Contacts

For more information, please contact any of the following:

Medexus

Ken d’Entremont, Chief Executive Officer
Medexus Pharmaceuticals
Tel: 905-676-0003
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Marcel Konrad, Chief Financial Officer
Medexus Pharmaceuticals
Tel: 312-548-3139
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Investor Relations

Victoria Rutherford
Adelaide Capital
Tel: 480-625-5772
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements made in this press release contain forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (forward-looking statements). The words “anticipates”, “believes”, “expects”, “will”, “plans”, “potential”, and similar words, phrases, or expressions are often intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words, phrases, or expressions. Specific forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Medexus’s business strategy or outlook and future growth plans and the expected tenure and contributions of Medexus’s directors. These statements are based on factors or assumptions that were applied in drawing a conclusion or making a forecast or projection, including assumptions based on historical trends, current conditions, and expected future developments. Since forward-looking statements relate to future events and conditions, by their very nature they require making assumptions and involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Medexus cautions that although it is believed that the assumptions are reasonable in the circumstances, these risks and uncertainties give rise to the possibility that actual results may differ materially from the expectations set out in the forward-looking statements. Material risk factors include, but are not limited to, those set out in Medexus’s materials filed with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities from time to time, including Medexus’s most recent annual information form and management’s discussion and analysis. Given these risks, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date of this news release. Other than as specifically required by law, Medexus undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, subsequent or otherwise.