Delcath Appoints Industry Veteran Chris Houchins as Senior Vice President of Clinical and Medical Affairs
NEW YORK, Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Delcath Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: DCTH) today announced the appointment of J. Chris Houchins, 47, to the Company's clinical development team as Senior Vice President, Clinical and Medical Affairs. In this role, Mr. Houchins will be responsible for the development and implementation of clinical trial strategies for the Company's proprietary chemosaturation system and the development and management of relationships with medical societies, thought leaders, advocacy organizations, academic institutions, and health plans. Mr. Houchins will report directly to Krishna Kandarpa, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President, Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer. The appointment is effective immediately.
"We are a data-driven company committed to a rigorous and robust research and development program," said Eamonn P. Hobbs, CEO & President of Delcath Systems. "Chris's extensive oncology and medical affairs expertise will be valuable as we prepare to initiate new clinical trials for our chemosaturation system in primary liver cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer during the second half of 2012. Chris's significant experience in all aspects of the clinical trials process fits very well with our research and development plans. We look forward to his guidance as we seek to expand the clinical evidence that will support a wide role for our chemosaturation system in the treatment of cancers in the liver."
Mr. Houchins has over 21 years of experience in leading the global development and implementation of clinical, medical, and scientific operations in oncology. Mr. Houchins most recently served as the Chief Operating Officer and Sr. Vice President - Clinical Operations for Arno Therapeutics, Inc., an oncology focused biopharmaceutical company where he was responsible for delivering pre-clinical and clinical milestones for all of the company's assets. Previously, Mr. Houchins was Director of Global Clinical Operations at Schering-Plough Corporation, where he worked on the regulatory submissions and subsequent approvals of multiple oncology products including Temozolomide, the standard of care for patients with Glioblastoma Multiforme—the most common and most aggressive malignant primary brain tumor in humans.
At Pfizer, Inc., Mr. Houchins served as Director - Team Leader of Oncology Clinical Operations overseeing all eight oncology compounds (Camptosar®, Aromasin®, Ellence®, Celebrex®, Emcyt®, Zavedos®, Trelstar® and Zinecard®) encompassing over 500 clinical and pre-clinical studies. In addition, he was appointed to the Pfizer Global Oncology Advisory Board. Mr. Houchins had previously served as Senior Clinical Program Manager, Global Medical Affairs for Oncology at Pharmacia Corporation. In that position, he developed Pharmacia's Global Medical Affairs Celebrex Oncology Clinical Operations Program from its inception to 300+ clinical and pre-clinical studies.
About Delcath Systems
Delcath Systems, Inc. is a development stage specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company focused on oncology. Delcath's proprietary system for chemosaturation is designed to administer high dose chemotherapy and other chemotherapeutic agents to diseased organs or regions of the body, while controlling the systemic exposure of those agents. The Company's initial focus is on the treatment of primary and metastatic liver cancers. In 2010, Delcath concluded a Phase III metastatic melanoma study, and the Company recently completed a multi-arm Phase II trial to treat other liver cancers. The Company obtained authorization to affix a CE Mark for the Hepatic CHEMOSAT Delivery System in April 2011. The Company has not yet received FDA approval for commercial sale of its system in the United States. For more information, please visit the Company's website at http://www.delcath.com/.
The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. This news release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those described. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, uncertainties relating to: the future initial launch and distribution of the CHEMOSAT system Europe, CE Marking for the Generation Two system and the timing of our commercial launch in Europe, the time required to build inventory and establish commercial operations in Europe, adoption, use and resulting sales, if any, for the Hepatic CHEMOSAT delivery system in the EEA, our ability to successfully commercialize the chemosaturation system and the potential of the chemosaturation system as a treatment for patients with terminal metastatic disease in the liver, acceptability of the Phase III clinical trial data by the FDA, our ability to address the issues raised in the Refusal to File letter received from the FDA and the timing of our re-submission of our NDA, re-submission and acceptance of the Company's NDA by the FDA, approval of the Company's NDA for the treatment of metastatic melanoma to the liver, adoption, use and resulting sales, if any, in the United States, approval of the current or future chemosaturation system for other indications, actions by the FDA or other foreign regulatory agencies, our ability to obtain reimbursement for the CHEMOSAT system, our ability to successfully enter into distribution and strategic partnership agreements in foreign markets and the corresponding revenue associated with such foreign markets, uncertainties relating to the results of research and development projects and future clinical trials, and uncertainties regarding our ability to obtain financial and other resources for any research, development and commercialization activities. These factors, and others, are discussed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made.
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Doug Sherk/Gregory Gin |
Janine McCargo |
EVC Group |
EVC Group |
415-568-4887/646-445-4801 |
646-688-0425 |
SOURCE Delcath Systems, Inc.
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