KemPharm, Inc. Appoints Tracy M. Woody as Chief Commercial Officer

CORALVILLE, Iowa, March 4, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- KemPharm, Inc., a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of proprietary new molecular entity (NME) prodrugs, announced today the appointment of Tracy M. Woody as Chief Commercial Officer.  Ms. Woody brings to KemPharm more than 20 years of commercial experience building businesses for both emerging and established pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and drug delivery companies.

As Chief Commercial Officer, Ms. Woody will join KemPharm's executive management team and will be responsible for leading the commercialization strategy for the Company's NME prodrug pipeline, including KP201/APAP, KemPharm's most advanced product candidate. KemPharm anticipates submitting a new drug application (NDA) for KP201/APAP to the FDA in the second half of 2015.

Travis C. Mickle, Ph.D., President and CEO of KemPharm, commented, "The addition of Tracy to our company and executive team is an important advancement for KemPharm as we begin to build our sales and marketing capabilities in preparation for the potential commercialization of KP201/APAP, if approved.  We greatly look forward to benefitting from Tracy's blend of emerging company and 'Big Pharma' experience as well as her deep understanding of the CNS market."

Among her career accomplishments, Ms. Woody served as Vice President, Sales & Marketing for NextWave Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Pfizer in November 2012.  During her tenure at NextWave, Ms. Woody served as a key commercial member of a small executive team that in-licensed and developed a liquid ADHD drug, which is currently being marketed by Pfizer under the brand Quillivant XRÔCII (methylphenidate hydrochloride) as the first once-daily, extended-release liquid methylphenidate for ADHD available in the U.S. 

Ms. Woody is also the Founder and Managing Director of TMW Consulting, Inc., a consulting firm working with emerging biotech and medical device companies. As part of her consultancy work, Ms. Woody served as acting CEO of RetroJect, Inc., a private ophthalmic medical device company focused on the treatment of glaucoma.

Additionally, Ms. Woody has held senior sales, marketing and business development roles at Greer Laboratories and ALZA Pharmaceuticals. She began her career at Pfizer in the U.S. Pharmaceuticals Group.  Ms. Woody received a B.S. in Health Promotion and Applied Physiology from East Carolina University with a Minor in Business Administration.

About KemPharm

KemPharm is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of NME prodrugs to treat serious medical conditions through its Ligand Activated Therapy (LAT) platform technology.  KemPharm utilizes its LAT platform technology to generate improved prodrug versions of FDA-approved drugs in the high needs areas of pain, ADHD and other CNS disorders.  For more information on KemPharm, please visit www.kempharm.com.

SOURCE KemPharm, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.kempharm.com