BOCA RATON, Fla., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nabi Biopharmaceuticals announced today that Henrik S. Rasmussen, M.D., Ph.D., has decided to resign his position as the company's senior vice president, clinical, medical and regulatory affairs. Dr. Rasmussen is leaving the company to accept a position with expanded responsibilities with Novo Nordisk. His decision to accept the position was made prior to and is unrelated to the announcement yesterday of the resignation of Thomas H. McLain as chairman, chief executive officer and president of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.
Dr. Rasmussen will remain with the company until March 2, 2007 to assist in transitional activities. The company has named Paul Kessler, M.D., as its new senior vice president, clinical, medical and regulatory affairs. Dr. Kessler currently serves as vice president, clinical and medical research for Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and has been with the company since 2005. Dr. Kessler has a BS from University of Pittsburgh, a Masters in Science from University of London in London, England and his M.D. from Columbia University in New York City. He was formerly Head of Clinical Research and Regulatory Affairs at Gen Vec Inc. in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
"I and the board of directors would like to thank Henrik for his countless contributions on behalf of Nabi Biopharmaceuticals," said Dr. Leslie Hudson, interim chief executive officer and president, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals. "Thanks in large part to Henrik's tireless efforts, Nabi Biopharmaceuticals has successfully advanced forward a deep pipeline of commercially promising product candidates with the potential to improve treatment outcomes for patients and to build value for our shareholders. While Henrik's contributions will be missed, we are happy that his new position will afford him the opportunity to travel to Denmark and spend more time with his extended family. We wish him the best of luck in all his future endeavors."
About Nabi Biopharmaceuticals
Nabi Biopharmaceuticals leverages its experience and knowledge in powering the immune system to develop and market products that fight serious medical conditions. The company has two products on the market today: Nabi-HB(R) [Hepatitis B Immune Globulin (Human)], and Aloprim(TM) (allopurinol sodium) for Injection. Nabi Biopharmaceuticals is focused on developing products that address unmet medical needs and offer commercial opportunities in our core business areas: Hepatitis and transplant, Gram-positive bacterial infections and nicotine addiction. For a complete list of pipeline products, please go to: http://www.nabi.com/pipeline/index.php. The company is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida. For additional information about Nabi Biopharmaceuticals, please visit our website at http://www.nabi.com/.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release about the company that are not strictly historical are forward-looking statements and include statements related to our plans to explore strategic alternatives and prospects. You can identify these forward-looking statements because they involve our expectations, beliefs, intentions, plans, projections, or other characterizations of future events or circumstances. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of any number of factors. These factors include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the company's ability to advance the development of products currently in the pipeline or in clinical trials; maintain the human and financial resources to commercialize current products and bring to market products in development; obtain regulatory approval for its products in the U.S., Europe or other markets; successfully develop, manufacture and market its products; successfully partner with other companies; realize future sales growth for its biopharmaceutical products; maintain sufficient intellectual property protection or positions; raise additional capital on acceptable terms; re-pay its outstanding convertible senior notes when due; and identify and complete transactions that represent strategic alternatives and opportunities. Many of these factors are more fully discussed, as are other factors, in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the Quarter ended September 30, 2006 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
