Board Approves Appointment of Three New
Independent Directors
Company Establishes Strategic and Operating
Review Committee of the Board
BioMarin Enters into Cooperation and
Information Sharing Agreements with Elliott
SAN
RAFAEL, Calif., Dec. 20,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.
(NASDAQ: BMRN), a global biotechnology company dedicated to
transforming lives through genetic discovery, today announced
several initiatives to enhance corporate governance and long-term
shareholder value creation.
The Board has approved the appointment of three new independent
directors: Barbara Bodem, Athena
Countouriotis, M.D., and Mark Enyedy
effective December 27, 2023. With
these appointments, the company's Board will temporarily expand to
15 directors before returning to 11 directors effective no later
than the 2024 annual meeting of stockholders.
BioMarin's Board has also established a new Strategic and
Operating Review Committee to conduct a review of the company
to maximize its long-term value, including a review of the
company's business, strategy and operations, financial and capital
allocation priorities, and long-term planning and priorities. The
Strategic and Operating Review Committee will be chaired by
BioMarin Board chair Richard A.
Meier and will include president and chief executive officer
Alexander Hardy, BioMarin director
Maykin Ho, Barbara Bodem and
Mark Enyedy. The committee will
present its recommendations to the full Board. The company has also
committed to holding an investor day in 2024.
As part of this process and to facilitate collaboration with
Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with its
affiliates, "Elliott"), one of BioMarin's largest investors,
BioMarin has entered into a Cooperation Agreement with Elliott and
agreed to customary standstill, voting, and other provisions.
Additionally, Elliott has entered into an information-sharing
agreement to allow for a dialogue between Elliott and the
company.
"We are excited to welcome Barbara, Athena, and Mark to our
Board," said Mr. Meier. "Their deep industry experience, leadership
expertise, and diverse skills will add valuable insight to our
Board. The addition of these directors and the new committee will
build on the extensive work our Board has already done to determine
how best to strengthen operational performance, enhance
profitability, and create long-term value for our shareholders. The
Board looks forward to receiving the committee's
recommendations."
"I'm looking forward to working with the Board, Elliott, and our
newly appointed directors," said Mr. Hardy. "Today's announcements
will strengthen our ability to drive better outcomes for patients
with genetic diseases and deliver value to all stakeholders. Our
focus will be to grow our business through the commercialization of
our leading portfolio and pipeline of innovative medicines, while
driving increased profitability through margin
expansion."
Elliott Senior Portfolio Manager Marc
Steinberg said, "Our discussions with BioMarin have been
positive and productive, and we are pleased to have worked
collaboratively to reach this agreement. BioMarin plays a pivotal
role in the treatment of genetic diseases thanks to its globally
leading rare-disease portfolio. We believe the changes announced
today put BioMarin in the best position to realize its full
potential, and we support Alexander
Hardy as the right leader for this chapter of BioMarin's
value creation story. We thank the Board and management for their
constructive dialogue, and we look forward to continuing our work
with them."
J.P. Morgan Securities LLC and Goldman Sachs are serving as
BioMarin's financial advisors and Jones
Day is serving as BioMarin's legal counsel.
Biographies
Barbara Bodem has
extensive board experience, currently serving on a number of boards
including Syneos Health, Enovis Corporation, and Biom Edit. Ms.
Bodem is also a board member for the Nature Conservancy of
Indiana, a nonprofit working to
protect ecologically important lands and waters.
Ms. Bodem recently served as Interim Chief Financial Officer for
Dentsply Sirona Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of
professional dental products and technologies. This follows her
time as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, and
interim CIO, for Hillrom where she was responsible for both
financial and information technology and where she oversaw
portfolio transformation and performance acceleration, which led to
Hillrom's successful acquisition by Baxter for $12
billion, inclusive of debt.
Prior to this, Ms. Bodem was Senior Vice President of Finance
for Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals. At Mallinckrodt, Ms. Bodem was responsible for
corporate business development and licensing and reported to the
Chief Financial Officer. Before this, she was Vice President of
Finance, global commercial operations for Hospira and earlier held
several positions of increasing responsibility at Eli Lilly and
Company, culminating in Chief Financial Officer, Lilly Oncology. She began her career as a
Financial Analyst for Irwin Management Company.
Previously, Ms. Bodem served on the boards of Turning Point
Therapeutics and Invacare Corporation. Ms. Bodem earned a M.B.A and
a B.S. in Finance both at Indiana
University.
Athena Countouriotis, M.D., is co founder, President,
Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of Avenzo Therapeutics. She
most recently led Turning Point Therapeutics as President and Chief
Executive Officer through its initial public offering (IPO) to its
eventual acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1 billion in August
2022. With nearly 20 years of industry experience, she has
served as an officer in both public and private companies, led
multiple initial public offerings and acquisitions, and guided
several development programs to approval in the U.S. and
Europe.
Dr. Countouriotis previously served as Senior Vice President and
Chief Medical Officer for Adverum Biotechnologies, and as Senior
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of Halozyme Therapeutics.
She also served as Chief Medical Officer of Ambit Biosciences,
where she helped lead the company's IPO and was responsible for the
clinical development of Vanflyta® until the company's
acquisition by Daiichi Sankyo in November
2014. Earlier in her career, Dr. Countouriotis led various
clinical development organizations within Pfizer and Bristol Myers
Squibb for oncology therapeutics including Sutent®,
Mylotarg™, Bosulif® and Sprycel®.
Dr. Countouriotis also serves on the boards of Iovance
Biotherapeutics and Passage Bio. Dr. Countouriotis earned a B.S.
from the University of California, Los
Angeles, and an M.D. from Tufts
University School of Medicine. She received her initial
medical training in pediatrics at the University of California, Los Angeles, and
additional training at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
in the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Program.
Mark Enyedy has served as
the President and Chief Executive Officer of ImmunoGen since 2016.
Mr. Enyedy has nearly three decades of combined general management,
business development and legal experience in the biotechnology
industry. Mr. Enyedy joined ImmunoGen from Shire plc, where he
served as Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate
Development, leading the company's strategy, M&A, and corporate
planning functions and providing commercial oversight for the
company's pre-Phase 3 portfolio.
Previously, Mr. Enyedy served as Chief Executive Officer and a
director of Proteostasis Therapeutics, following 15 years at
Genzyme Corporation in diverse roles, most recently as President of
the transplant, oncology, and multiple sclerosis divisions. Before
joining Genzyme, Mr. Enyedy was an Associate with the Boston law firm Palmer & Dodge.
Mr. Enyedy also serves on the boards of The American Cancer
Society of Eastern New England and the Biotechnology Innovation
Organization. He previously served on the boards of Ergomed plc,
LogicBio Therapeutics, Akebia Therapeutics, Fate Therapeutics, and
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. Mr. Enyedy holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.S. from Northeastern University.
About BioMarin
Founded in 1997, BioMarin is a global biotechnology company
dedicated to transforming lives through genetic discovery. The
company develops and commercializes targeted therapies that address
the root cause of genetic conditions. BioMarin's unparalleled
research and development capabilities have resulted in eight
transformational commercial therapies for patients with rare
genetic disorders. The company's distinctive approach to drug
discovery has produced a diverse pipeline of commercial, clinical,
and pre-clinical candidates that address a significant unmet
medical need, have well-understood biology, and provide an
opportunity to be first-to-market or offer a substantial benefit
over existing treatment options. For additional information, please
visit www.biomarin.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about the
business prospects of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. (BioMarin),
including, without limitation, our plans, expectations and
long-term goals associated with our business.
These forward-looking statements are predictions and involve
risks and uncertainties such that actual results may differ
materially from these statements. These risks and uncertainties
include, among others: the results of the review to be conducted by
the Strategic and Operating Review Committee; finalizing the
appointment of the anticipated new Directors, BioMarin's success in
the commercialization of its commercial products, impacts of
macroeconomic and other external factors on BioMarin's operations;
results and timing of current and planned preclinical studies and
clinical trials and the release of data from those trials;
BioMarin's ability to successfully manufacture its commercial
products and product candidates; and those factors detailed in
BioMarin's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC), including, without limitation, the factors contained under
the caption "Risk Factors" in BioMarin's Quarterly Report on Form
10-Q for the quarter ended Sept. 30,
2023 as such factors may be updated by any subsequent
reports. Stockholders are urged not to place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.
BioMarin is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any
obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statement,
whether as a result of new information, future events or
otherwise.
Contacts:
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Investors
|
Media
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Traci
McCarty
|
Marni
Kottle
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BioMarin
Pharmaceutical Inc.
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BioMarin
Pharmaceutical Inc.
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(415)
455-7558
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(415)
218-7111
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SOURCE BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc.