AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, August 6 /PRNewswire/ --
Eurand N.V. (Nasdaq: EURX), a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug formulation technologies, announced today that the Board of Directors of Eurand N.V. will convene an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) of the Company's shareholders on August 29, 2007 at 10.00 a.m. (CET) at the Company's offices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Under Dutch law the Company's Board does not have the authority to appoint additional directors--even for an interim period until the next shareholder meeting or to fill vacancies--hence, the Company is calling this shareholder's meeting.
The shareholder's meeting is primarily for the appointment of two independent, non-executive directors, Angelo C. Malahias and Rolf A. Classon. One of the newly-appointed directors will replace Aleksandar Erdeljan, a current Board member who will be stepping down in early September 2007. Mr. Erdeljan will step down from the Board to avoid any potential conflict of interest with Eurand's business activities due to his increased involvement in Catalent Pharma Solutions, Inc.
Gearoid Faherty, Chief Executive Officer of Eurand, commented, "Alex Erdeljan has diligently served on Eurand's Board for almost seven years. We sincerely thank him for his contributions to the Board and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. We look forward to the potential appointment of what would be our two newest members to the Board and thank Angelo and Rolf for their interest in contributing to Eurand's Board of Directors."
Angelo C. Malahias was appointed Andrx Corporation President in February 2004 and re-appointed Chief Financial Officer in September 2005. Mr. Malahias served in these roles until November 2006, when Andrx was acquired by Watson. Mr. Malahias previously served as Chief Financial Officer from January 1996 through his appointment as President in February 2004. Mr. Malahias served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Circa from January 1995 to January 1996, where he also served as Corporate Controller from July 1994 to January 1995. Mr. Malahias was employed by KPMG LLP from July 1983 to July 1994. Mr. Malahias has a degree in accounting from New York University and received his New York State CPA designation in 1985. Mr. Malahias qualifies as an audit committee financial expert and, if appointed, Mr. Malahias will head the Company's audit committee.
Rolf A. Classon served as Interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Hillenbrand Industries from May 2005 to March 2006. Mr. Classon previously served as Chairman of the Executive Committee of Bayer Healthcare from November 2002 to June 2004. Mr. Classon served as President of Bayer Diagnostics from 1995 to November 2002, where he also served as Executive Vice President from 1991 to 1995. Mr. Classon previously served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Pharmacia Biosystems AB from 1990 to 1991, where he also served as President of from 1981 to 1990, in the course of his 20-year career at Pharmacia. Mr. Classon currently serves on the boards of Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Hillenbrand Industries, Millipore Corporation, and Attana A-B.
Proxy cards will be distributed to shareholders and an Explanation of Agenda Items / Shareholders' Circular will be made available on the Company's website in compliance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code and in hard copy upon request from the Company's registered office in compliance with Dutch law. Shareholders registered as at the record date of August 3, 2007, will be eligible to participate in the meeting. Details about how to register for the meeting are included in the convening notice that can be found on the Company's website, together with the meeting materials at: http://ir.eurand.com/meetings.cfm
About Eurand
Eurand is a specialty pharmaceutical company that develops enhanced pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical products based on its proprietary drug formulation technologies. Eurand has had four products approved by the FDA since 2000 and has a pipeline of product candidates in development for itself and its collaboration partners. Eurand has completed two phase III clinical trials on its lead product candidate, Zentase(TM), for the treatment of Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency and filed the first segment of its rolling NDA for this product in June 2007. Eurand's technology platforms include bioavailability enhancement of poorly soluble drugs, customized release, taste-making/fast-dissolving formulations and drug conjugation.
Eurand is a global company with facilities in the USA and Europe. For more information, visit Eurand's website at http://www.eurand.com.
Certain statements made in this release, and oral statements made with respect to information contained in this release, may constitute forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include those which express plan, anticipation, intent, contingency, goals, targets or future development and/or otherwise are not statements of historical fact. The words "potentially", "could", "calls for" and similar expressions will some times identify forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, which could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of this date, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Actual events could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.
Web site: http://www.eurand.com
http://ir.eurand.com/meetings.cfm
