for those who owned KDUS while I owned Sibia, the old-timers.........
Monday June 25, 8:08 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: SIGA Technologies, Inc.
Philip N. Sussman Joins SIGA Technologies as
President and CEO
NEW YORK, June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- SIGA Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SIGA - news)
today announced the appointment of Philip N. Sussman as President and Chief Executive
officer of SIGA.
``It is important for emerging biopharmaceutical companies to combine cutting edge research
and technology with professional management,'' said Donald G. Drapkin, Chairman of
SIGA. ``I am confident that Philip Sussman's experience in licensing technologies and in
structuring strategic alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will provide
the necessary platform for SIGA's success.''
Mr. Drapkin, Vice-Chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, Inc., explained that Mr.
Sussman's appointment at SIGA was a direct result of the reconstitution of SIGA's
management and board of directors in April 2001, at which time Mr. Drapkin assumed the
position of Chairman of SIGA. Coincident with Mr. Sussman's appointment, Eric A. Rose,
M.D., Chairman of the Department of Surgery and Surgeon-in-Chief of
Columbia-Presbyterian Center of New York Presbyterian Hospital, relinquishes his position
as Interim CEO of SIGA, remaining a director.
Mr. Sussman was previously Executive Vice President -- Corporate Development at
Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company. From 1993 to
1999 he was an officer at Cadus Pharmaceutical Corporation, rising to the position of Senior
Vice President -- Finance and Corporate Development & Chief Financial Officer. Prior to
that he was Director of Strategy and Business Development at Ciba-Geigy Corp.'s (now
Novartis Corp.) Pharmaceuticals Division.
Mr. Sussman is a member of the Review Panel for the Innovative Technology Research
Grant Program, Center for Biotechnology, New York State Science and Technology
Foundation. He is also an author of recent articles in Scrip Magazine, The Journal of BioLaw
& Business, and Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, where he is a member of the
Editorial Board. He holds an S.M. in management with a concentration in finance from the
Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.S. degree
in Biotechnology from Manhattan College, and a B.S. in Physics from the State University of
New York at Stony Brook.
SIGA is identifying and developing novel anti-infective agents based on its pioneering research in the field of bacterial surface
proteins, structures used by bacteria to initiate and maintain an infection. Drug candidates that interfere with surface protein
expression are expected to be effective against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria, including antibiotic resistant bacteria,
by blocking the attachment of bacteria to human tissue, the first step in the infection process. By comparison, antibiotics
available today act by interfering with either the structure or the metabolism of a bacterial cell, affecting its ability to survive and
to reproduce. No currently available antibiotics target the attachment of a bacterium to its target tissue. Once prevented from
attaching to and colonizing human tissue, bacteria are readily cleared by the body's immune system. (snip)
excerpt from the last KDUS 10-K............
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS.
The Company is not a party to any legal proceedings that will have a
material adverse effect on the Company's operations or financial condition.
However, the Company is the respondent in an arbitration proceeding commenced
by Philip N. Sussman, the former Senior Vice President, Finance and Corporate
Development, and Chief Financial Officer of the Company, against the Company, on
October 4, 1999, seeking severance pay of approximately $525,000. The Company
believes that Mr. Sussman is not entitled to such severance pay and intends to
vigorously defend the action. |
