Eiger Announces Appointment of Biopharmaceutical Industry Veteran Evan Loh, MD to its Board of Directors

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:EIGR), focused on the development and commercialization of therapies for rare diseases, announced today the appointment of Evan Loh, MD to its Board of Directors.  Dr. Loh's clinical development and regulatory experience spans nearly two decades across all phases of development ranging from discovery to registration, across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, infectious diseases, inflammation and rare diseases.  The company concurrently announced that Ed Engleman, MD, Managing Partner at Vivo Capital and a founding venture investor, is departing from the Board.

"We are very pleased to have Dr. Loh join our Board of Directors and believe his experience will be invaluable to our company," stated Thomas Dietz, PhD, Chairman of the Board of Eiger.  "Evan has a proven track record in the pharmaceutical industry and brings relevant clinical, regulatory, and operational experience, having served in broad executive management roles at both large pharma and start up biotechnology companies.  We believe his broad operational background, including financing, will be invaluable as we plan for late stage development of the Eiger pipeline.  We look forward to Evan's strategic insights and contributions to the Board."

"I am very pleased to be elected to Eiger's Board at this exciting point in the Company's development, and look forward to working closely with the other Board members and Eiger's management team to advance a diverse set of exciting clinical stage orphan disease programs in therapeutic areas of high unmet medical need," said Dr. Loh.

"We also wish to thank Ed Engleman for his many contributions to Eiger during his near decade-long tenure on our Board.  Dr. Engleman's involvement as an investor, clinician, and Stanford faculty member has contributed significantly to the Company's evolution to an exciting public biopharmaceutical company," commented Dr. Dietz.  "It's been a privilege to have been with Eiger from the very beginning and to work alongside an extraordinary management team and Board.  Evan Loh will be an excellent addition to the Board to move the company forward," stated Dr. Engleman. 

Evan Loh, MD, is President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer, as well as a member of the Board of Directors at Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRTK).  Prior to Paratek's merger with Transcept Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Loh served as Paratek's Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors from June 2012 to June 2014.  Previously, Dr. Loh served as Senior Vice President, Development and Strategic Operations, Worldwide Research and Development, at Pfizer.  While at Pfizer, Dr. Loh's responsibilities included scientific, operational, and strategic drug development oversight for all pre-proof of concept development phase programs and leading portfolio prioritization.  Dr. Loh joined Pfizer from Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President, Multiple Therapeutic Areas, where he was responsible for global development strategy and clinical operational deliverables, including leading the successful global registration programs for Torisel^® and Tygacil^®.

Dr. Loh served as a faculty member at both Harvard Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine.  Dr. Loh received his A.B. from Harvard College and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.  He completed his Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular fellowship training at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA.  

About Eiger

Eiger is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company committed to bringing to market novel products for the treatment of rare diseases.  The company has built a diverse portfolio of well-characterized product candidates with the potential to address diseases for which the unmet medical need is high, the biology for treatment is identified, and for which an effective therapy is urgently needed.  For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.eigerbio.com.

Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve substantial risks and uncertainties.  All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding our strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenue, projected expenses, prospects, plans and objectives, intentions, beliefs and expectations of management are forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements may be accompanied by such words as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "project," "target," "will" and other words and terms of similar meaning.  Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, whether or not pegylated interferon lambda-1a, lonafarnib, ubenimex or exendin 9-39, including SC formulations, may be further developed and approved, whether additional studies of exendin 9-39 will show safety and activity consistent with early clinical results, including the interim results of the MAD study, or that the new liquid formulation will be consistent with results seen with IV and SC formulations of exendin 9-39, statements relating to the availability of cash for Eiger's future operations, Eiger's ability to develop its drug candidates for potential commercialization, the timing of the commencement and number and completion of Phase 2 trials and whether the products can be successfully developed or commercialized.  Various important factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that Eiger makes, including the risks described in the "Risk Factors" sections in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2017 and our periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Eiger assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Investors: Ingrid Choong, PhD Email: [email protected] Phone: 1-650-619-6115

SOURCE Eiger BioPharmaceuticals, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.eigerbio.com