NanoViricides, Inc. Appoints Mr. James Sapirstein to its Board of Directors
SHELTON, Conn., Oct. 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- NanoViricides, Inc. (NYSE Amer.: NNVC) (the "Company"), a leader in developing novel nanomedicines to treat viral diseases, reports that Mr. James Sapirstein has been duly appointed as an Independent Director to its Board of Directors. He will join the Board as of November 1, 2018, and will also become a member of the Board's Audit Committee, Nomination Committee, and Compensation Committee. In addition, the Board has also appointed Dr. Irach Taraporewala, CEO, as a Member of the Board.
Mr. Sapirstein has over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He has held various roles in small as well as big pharmaceutical companies, including as CEO for multiple small companies. He has also served and is currently serving as a Director of multiple pharmaceutical companies and of pharmaceutical industry associations. He has been part of almost two dozen drug product launches and specifically either led or has been a key member of several HIV product launches into different new classes of therapeutics at the time.
"This is an exciting time for NanoViricides, as it is preparing to enter the clinical development phase. I am pleased to join the Company's Board and intend to contribute to the Company's success with my substantial experience in the field," said Mr. Sapirstein.
"We are very pleased to announce that Mr. Sapirstein is joining our Board. The Company has significantly improved its depth and breadth of pharmaceutical industry expertise at the Board level with his appointment," said Anil R. Diwan, PhD., Chairman of the Board and President of the Company, adding, "We recently brought in Dr. Irach Taraporewala, a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive with experience in taking novel drugs successfully through Phase II regulatory trials, as CEO. These additions have significantly bolstered NanoViricides' strength as a pharmaceutical company."
"Mr. Sapirstein is well known in the Pharmaceutical Industry, and has been associated with a number of successful drug launches," commented Dr. Irach Taraporewala, PhD, CEO of the Company, continuing, "His extensive experience as a highly respected biotechnology executive and as a Board member of pharmaceutical companies will serve NanoViricides, Inc. very well as it progresses on the path to become a leading antiviral therapeutics company."
"We are very pleased with Mr. Sapirstein joining our team," concurred Mr. Stan Glick, Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, elaborating that, "His extensive pharmaceutical industry expertise will be highly valuable to the Board, and particularly to the Audit Committee."
"We look forward to working with Mr. Sapirstein," added Dr. Mukund Kulkarni, Director and Chairman of the Nomination Committee. "His broad, multi-dimensional experience in this industry will be very helpful for connecting with appropriate experts and resources as the Company engages in the next phase of its business development," he posited.
Mr. Sapirstein began his career in 1984 with big pharmaceutical companies. joining Eli Lilly in Sales; moving on to Hoffmann-LaRoche in 1987 where he served for almost a decade as part of its commercial teams in the USA and abroad, rising to become a Product Director; and thereafter at Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) as the Director of International Marketing in the Infectious Diseases group in 1996. While at BMS, he worked on several important HIV/AIDS projects including Secure the Future.
Mr. Sapirstein's entry into the world of smaller pharma companies began with Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD) in 2000 where he led the Global Marketing team in its launch of Viread (tenofovir). Later, in 2002, he accepted the position of Executive Vice President, Metabolic and Endocrinology, for Serono Laboratories, acquired by Merck GMBH in 2006. Thereafter in 2006, he became the founding CEO of Tobira Therapeutics, then a private company. In 2012, Mr. Sapirstein became the CEO of Alliqua Biomedical at Alliqua, Inc. Thereafter, he served as CEO of Contravir Pharmaceuticals (CTRV) from March 2014 until October 2018. Mr. Sapirstein has raised over $120 Million dollars in venture capital and public capital markets financing in his various engagements as CEO. He was named as a Finalist for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2015 as well as in 2016. Mr. Sapirstein received an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1997, and a BS (Pharmacy) from Rutgers University in 1984.
Mr. Sapirstein currently holds Board positions on Enochian Biosciences (ENOB), RespireRx Pharmaceuticals (RSPI) and the privately held company Leading Biosciences. He is the Chairman of the Board for BioNJ, an association of biopharma industries in New Jersey. In addition, he is a Board Director for BIO, the leading Biopharma Industries Organization promoting public policy and networking in the healthcare space, where he sits on both the Health Section and Emerging Companies Section Governing Boards.
Mr. Sapirstein's appointment as an Independent Director of the Board, as well as Dr. Taraporewala's appointment as a Member of the Board, are to be ratified by shareholder vote at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Company, scheduled on November 30, 2018.
About NanoViricides
NanoViricides, Inc. (www.nanoviricides.com) is a development stage company that is creating special purpose nanomaterials for antiviral therapy. The Company's novel nanoviricide® class of drug candidates are designed to specifically attack enveloped virus particles and to dismantle them. The Company is developing drugs against a number of viral diseases including H1N1 swine flu, H5N1 bird flu, seasonal Influenza, HIV, oral and genital Herpes, shingles and chickenpox, viral diseases of the eye including EKC and herpes keratitis, Hepatitis C, Rabies, Dengue fever, and Ebola virus, among others. This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectation regarding future events. Actual events could differ materially and substantially from those projected herein and depend on a number of factors. Certain statements in this release, and other written or oral statements made by NanoViricides, Inc. are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the company's expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in documents filed by the company from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Although it is not possible to predict or identify all such factors, they may include the following: demonstration and proof of principle in preclinical trials that a nanoviricide is safe and effective; successful development of our product candidates; our ability to seek and obtain regulatory approvals, including with respect to the indications we are seeking; the successful commercialization of our product candidates; and market acceptance of our products. (FDA refers to US Food and Drug Administration. EMA refers to the European Union's office of European Medicines Agency.)
SOURCE NanoViricides, Inc.
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