Aratana Therapeutics Appoints Craig Barbarosh and Lowell Robinson to its Board of Directors in Cooperation Agreement with Engaged Capital

LEAWOOD, Kan., May 21, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PETX), a pet therapeutics company focused on the licensing, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics for dogs and cats, today announced the Company has appointed Craig Barbarosh and Lowell Robinson to its Board of Directors (Board) in connection with a cooperation agreement with Engaged Capital, LLC ("Engaged Capital"). Mr. Barbarosh will be a member of the Board's Compensation Committee and Mr. Robinson will be a member of the Audit Committee. Rip Gerber, a member of the Board, has resigned, and following these changes, Aratana's Board has been increased to ten members.

"We greatly appreciate Rip's six years of dedicated service on Aratana's Board. He has served during an important evolution of our business," said Wendy Yarno, Chairperson of Aratana Therapeutics' Board. "We appreciated the constructive dialogue with Engaged Capital, and we welcome Craig and Lowell to the Board. We believe they will further strengthen our Board, adding additional skills and perspective."

"We invested in Aratana as we see significant value to be realized in the Company's innovative therapeutic portfolio," said Glenn W. Welling, Principal and Chief Investment Officer at Engaged Capital. "Craig and Lowell will bring an objective and valuable perspective into the boardroom for shareholders with a disciplined focus on cost and capital allocation, along with a sense of urgency in delivering on the value of Aratana's unique assets."

Craig A. Barbarosh has been a director of Quality Systems, Inc. since September 2009 and is currently the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chair of the Compensation Committee and a member of the Special Transactions Committee. For Sabra Health Care REIT, Inc., he was appointed a director in November 2010 and serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee and a member of its Compensation Committee. Mr. Barbarosh is an attorney at a large, international law firm where he has been a partner since June 2012. Mr. Barbarosh holds his J.D. from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law and his B.A. in Business Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Lowell W. Robinson has more than thirty years of executive level experience and held senior global financial positions, including Chief Financial Officer of several publicly traded companies. Most recently he served in various roles for MIVA, Inc., including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative Officer. Mr. Robinson has also served on numerous public company board of directors, including SITO Mobile, Ltd., Higher One Holdings, Inc., Support.com, Inc., The Jones Group, Inc., Edison Schools Inc. and International Wire Group, Inc.  Since 2014, Mr. Robinson has served as a director for EVINE Live Inc., a digital omnichannel home shopping network. He is also on the board of The Council for Economic Education and the advisory board for the University of Wisconsin Economics Department; and previously served on the boards of The Metropolitan Opera Guild, The Smithsonian Libraries and the University of Wisconsin School of Business. Mr. Robinson earned his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and B.A. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin.

Mr. Barbarosh and Mr. Lowell were nominated to the Board by Engaged Capital. Following these appointments, Engaged Capital has agreed to withdraw its previously nominated slate of directors for election at the Annual Meeting as part of a mutual cooperation agreement. The full agreement with Engaged Capital will be filed in a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Aratana Therapeutics
Aratana Therapeutics is a pet therapeutics company focused on licensing, developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for dogs and cats. Aratana believes that it can leverage the investment in the human biopharmaceutical industry to bring therapeutics to pets in a capital and time efficient manner. The Company's pipeline includes therapeutic candidates targeting pain, inappetence, cancer, viral diseases, allergy and other serious medical conditions.  Aratana believes the development and commercialization of these therapeutics will permit veterinarians and pet owners to manage pets' medical needs safely and effectively, resulting in longer and improved quality of life for pets. For more information, please visit www.aratana.com.

About Engaged Capital
Engaged Capital, LLC (Engaged Capital) was established in 2012 by a group of professionals with significant experience in activist investing in North America and was seeded by Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P., one of the oldest and largest global alternative investment managers. Engaged Capital is a limited liability company owned by its principals and formed to create long-term shareholder value by bringing an owner's perspective to the managements and boards of undervalued public companies. Engaged Capital's efforts and resources are dedicated to a single investment style, "Constructive Activism" with a focus on delivering superior, long-term, risk-adjusted returns for investors. Engaged Capital is based in Newport Beach, California.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our history of operating losses and our expectation that we will continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future; failure to obtain sufficient capital to fund our operations; risks relating to the impairment of intangible assets; risks pertaining to stockholder class action lawsuits; unstable market and economic conditions; restrictions on our financial flexibility due to the terms of our credit facility; our substantial dependence upon the commercial success of our therapeutics; development of our biologic therapeutic candidates is dependent upon relatively novel technologies and uncertain regulatory pathways, and biologics may not be commercially viable; denial or delay of regulatory approval for our existing or future therapeutic candidates; failure of our therapeutic candidates that receive regulatory approval to achieve market acceptance or achieve commercial success; product liability lawsuits that could cause us to incur substantial liabilities and limit commercialization of current and future therapeutics; failure to realize anticipated benefits of our acquisitions and difficulties associated with integrating the acquired businesses; development of pet therapeutics is a lengthy and expensive process with an uncertain outcome; competition in the pet therapeutics market, including from generic alternatives to our therapeutic candidates, and failure to compete effectively; failure to identify, license or acquire, develop and commercialize additional therapeutic candidates; failure to attract and retain senior management and key scientific personnel; our reliance on third-party manufacturers, suppliers and partners; regulatory restrictions on the marketing of our approved therapeutics and therapeutic candidates; our small commercial sales organization, and any failure to create a sales force or collaborate with third-parties to commercialize our approved therapeutics and therapeutic candidates; difficulties in managing the growth of our company; significant costs of being a public company; risks related to the effectiveness of our internal controls; changes in distribution channels for pet therapeutics; consolidation of our veterinarian customers; limitations on our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards; the impact of tax reform legislation; impacts of generic products; safety or efficacy concerns with respect to our therapeutic candidates; effects of system failures or security breaches; delay or termination of the development of grapiprant therapeutic candidates and commercialization of grapiprant products that may arise from termination of or failure to perform under the collaboration agreement and/or the co-promotion agreement with Elanco; failure to obtain ownership of issued patents covering our therapeutic candidates or failure to prosecute or enforce licensed patents; failure to comply with our obligations under our license agreements; effects of patent or other intellectual property lawsuits; failure to protect our intellectual property; changing patent laws and regulations; non-compliance with any legal or regulatory requirements; litigation resulting from the misuse of our confidential information; the uncertainty of the regulatory approval process and the costs associated with government regulation of our therapeutic candidates; failure to obtain regulatory approvals in foreign jurisdictions; effects of legislative or regulatory reform with respect to pet therapeutics; the volatility of the price of our common stock; our status as an emerging growth company, which could make our common stock less attractive to investors; dilution of our common stock as a result of future financings; the influence of certain significant stockholders over our business; and provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law could delay or prevent a change in control. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 14, 2018, along with our other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change, except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contacts
For investor inquires:
Craig Tooman
[email protected] 
(913) 353-1026

For media inquiries:
Rachel Reiff
[email protected]
(913) 353-1050

SOURCE Aratana Therapeutics, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.aratana.com