Orexo strengthens its subsidiary Kibion by recruiting Petter Bäckgren as CEO
Uppsala, Sweden, October 27, 2010 - Orexo AB (STO: ORX) announces that Petter Bäckgren has been appointed as the new CEO for its diagnostic subsidiary Kibion. Petter has excellent experience in sales and marketing and general management within the pharma and diagnostic sectors, both in the Nordic countries and internationally.
Petter Bäckgren has since 2009 been working as General Manager of the clinical diagnostics business at DiaSorin for the UK, Ireland and Nordic region. Petter has also previously worked for Novartis, where he held several positions including Regional Business Manager and Head of Sales in General Medicine. Petter has demonstrated his ability to increase sales and his strong customer focus.
Petter Bäckgren will commence his position on November 15, replacing acting CEO for Kibion, Erik Bergman, who will be leaving the company to pursue other interests.
Torbjörn Bjerke, President and CEO of Orexo comments:
“We are delighted to have been able to recruit Petter Bäckgren to our subsidiary Kibion. His solid experience and background will contribute to Kibion’s continued growth and value increase. I would also like to thank Erik Bergman for his contributions to Kibion both as CFO and as acting CEO, and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”
Contact details:
Torbjörn Bjerke, President and CEO, Orexo AB
Tel: +46 (0)708 66 19 90
Email: torbjorn.bjerke@orexo.com
Robin Wright, EVP and CFO, Orexo AB
Tel: +44 7720 300025
Email: robin.wright@orexo.com
Notes to Editors
About Kibion
Kibion AB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Orexo, is a growing dynamic company and world-leading supplier of breath tests to diagnose the stomach ulcer bacterium Helicobacter pylori (Hp). Kibion has currently has two products to diagnose Helicobacter pylori - Diabact® UBT and Heliprobe® System. Kibion’s products are sold in some 50 countries, primarily in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. The company was founded in 2005 and its operations are based in Uppsala, Sweden.
About Orexo
Orexo is a pharmaceutical company focusing on developing treatments for pain and inflammation. Orexo is developing proprietary products based on its proven reformulation technologies, targeted at the Specialty Pharmaceutical market. Orexo intends to commercialise some of these products itself in one or more major markets. Its development activity builds on Orexo’s core competences in R&D, which have previously resulted in several successful products, currently out-licensed through worldwide partnership agreements to larger pharmaceutical companies.
Today, Orexo has four products on the market of which AbstralTM is a leading product for the treatment of breakthrough pain in cancer patients in most of Europe.
Orexo also has three significant partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies for research and development programs: discovery stage collaborations with Ortho-McNeil Janssen and Janssen Pharmaceutica in respiratory inflammation and with Boehringer Ingelheim for pain, both within the arachidonic acid cascade and a clinical stage development agreement with Novartis in gastrointestinal disorders.
Orexo’s head office is located in Uppsala, Sweden.
More information can be found at www.orexo.com.
Note:
This is information that Orexo AB (publ.) is required to disclose pursuant to the Swedish Securities Markets Act. The information was provided for public release on October 27, 2010 at 12:00 a.m. CET.