PPD Strengthens Expertise In Neuroscience, Pediatrics And Rare Diseases

WILMINGTON, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC, (PPD) today announced it recently has added two new leaders in product development, strengthening the global contract research organization’s therapeutic expertise and ability to aid biopharmaceutical clients in delivering life-changing therapies to patients.

“PPD’s global team of scientific, medical and strategic experts provides our clients expertise that helps reduce the cost and time associated with bringing medicines to market,” said Rob Dow, senior vice president of medical affairs for PPD. “By joining this team, these leaders deepen our expertise in neuroscience, pediatrics and rare diseases – areas that are very important to PPD and our customers.”

Stephen Peroutka, M.D., Ph.D., has joined PPD to serve as vice president of global product development and therapeutic area head for neuroscience.

Peroutka has served as an advisor and consultant to several biopharmaceutical companies. He previously served as chief medical officer at Semnur Pharmaceuticals and as chief medical officer and executive vice president of NeurogesX Inc. Earlier, he served as vice president of neurosciences for a large contract research organization (CRO); chief medical officer of Zogenix Inc.; franchise leader for pain conditions at Johnson & Johnson Inc.; founder, CEO and president of Synergia Pharma Inc.; and founder, CEO and president of Spectra Biomedical Inc., a startup focused on identification of genes in migraine, later acquired by GSK.

Peroutka served as chief of the neurology service at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Administration Hospital. He earned both a medical and doctoral degree in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Horacio Plotkin, M.D., FAAP, joined PPD as vice president of global product development in the pediatrics and rare diseases therapeutic area and also serves as medical lead for the Rare Disease and Pediatric Center of Excellence.

Plotkin most recently served as global clinical development lead at Shire. Previously, he spent three years as chief medical officer of Retrophin, Inc., and held medical director positions at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Enobia Pharma and Genzyme Corp. He spent 20 years as a practicing pediatrician in the field of pediatric rare diseases.

Plotkin serves as adjunct associate professor of pediatrics and orthopedic surgery at the University of Nebraska School of Medicine. He earned his medical degree from the University of Buenos Aires School of Medicine.

About PPD

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing comprehensive, integrated drug development, laboratory and lifecycle management services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 47 countries and more than 19,000 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a firm commitment to quality to help clients and partners bend the cost and time curve of drug development to deliver life-changing therapies that improve health. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements made in this news release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about the future performance of personnel, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. These statements often include words such as “anticipate,” “expect,” “suggests,” “plan,” “believe,” “intend,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” “should,” “could,” “would,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “forecast” and other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are subject to and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and therefore you should not place undue reliance on them. Although PPD believes these forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions at the time they are made, many factors are beyond PPD’s ability to control or predict and could affect the outcome of the subject matter of this news release and our actual financial results, and therefore the outcome and results might differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements.

Additional factors that might materially affect the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: our ability to recruit, retain and motivate key personnel; the competitive nature of the drug development services industry; changes in trends in the biopharmaceutical industry; rapid technological changes that make our services less competitive or obsolete; the impacts of political, economic and/or regulatory changes on the health care industry; the fact that our backlog may not accurately predict or convert into service revenue; the termination, delay or change in scope of our contracts; industry, customer or therapeutic concentration; the pricing of and cost management of customer contracts; information and communication systems failures; contractual failures; regulatory and ethical standards failures; our ability to attract investigators and enroll patients in clinical trials; violations of laws governing privacy, conduct of clinical trials and/or other pharmaceutical research; competition between existing and potential customers; management of business restructurings and acquisitions; risk relating to the performance of drug development services and our insurance coverages, if any, for such risks; U.S. or international economic, currency, political and other risks; changes in existing or interpretations of tax laws; factors impacting the value of our goodwill and intangible assets; and other factors.

PPD assumes no obligation and expressly disclaims any duty to revise or update any forward-looking statements, or make any new forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. PPD is not responsible for updating the information contained in this news release beyond the published date, or for changes made to this news release by wire services or internet service providers or any other party.