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Circassia Announces the Appointment of Dr James Shannon to its Board of Directors
OXFORD, UK - 6 January 2011 - Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced the appointment of Dr James Shannon to its Board of Directors. Dr Shannon has extensive pharmaceutical development experience, and was formerly Head of Global Development at Novartis Pharma AG in Basel, Switzerland.
"I am delighted to welcome Dr Shannon to Circassia at this exciting point in the company's development," said Sir Richard Sykes, Circassia's Chairman. "Circassia has already achieved impressive clinical results with its novel allergy therapeutics, and Dr Shannon's extensive clinical and regulatory expertise will prove invaluable as the company advances its broad range of products into late-stage development."
Commenting on his appointment, Dr Shannon said, "Circassia has made considerable progress since its establishment in 2006, and I have been impressed by the quality of the development work the company has undertaken to date. Allergy remains an under-served market, and I very much look forward to helping Circassia bring its first products to market."
Dr James Shannon has over 20 years of experience in senior pharmaceutical development roles. He began his industry career at Sterling Winthrop, where he ultimately held the role of Senior Vice President, Clinical Development. He subsequently joined Sandoz as Head of Drug Registration and Regulatory Affairs in Basel, and with the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy led the integration of the R&D programs to form the Novartis R&D organization. Dr Shannon then held a number of senior roles at Novartis, and ultimately became Head of Global Development. He retired from the company in 2008. During his career he has led the development and subsequent approval of many products, including Diovan®, Femara®, Gleevec®, Lucentis® (ex-US), Plavix®, Reclast®, Starlix®, Tekturna®, Visudyne®, Xolair® and Zometa®. Dr Shannon received his medical degree from Queen's University of Belfast. He trained in cardiology and is a Member of the UK Royal College of Physicians.
06 January 2011