Theravance Biopharma Appoints Shehnaaz Suliman, MD, as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy

DUBLIN, July 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Theravance Biopharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: TBPH) ("Theravance Biopharma" or the "Company") today announced the appointment of Shehnaaz Suliman, MD, to the position of Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy. Dr. Suliman brings more than 15 years of senior-level experience in life science corporate strategy and business development, as well as product development, to her new role at Theravance Biopharma. In this position, she will be responsible for driving corporate and business development as well as portfolio management strategy with the goal of maximizing the value of the Company's novel therapeutic products.

"I have a keen appreciation for the impressive success that Theravance Biopharma has achieved in creating a rich pipeline of internally discovered therapeutics. The Company's deep commitment to excellent science and patient care has resulted in innovative product candidates with differentiated profiles intended to deliver meaningful benefit to patients across a number of high unmet need disease categories," said Dr. Suliman. "I look forward to joining the Theravance Biopharma team and applying my experience to the goal of maximizing the value of the Company's therapeutic portfolio to significantly enhance and impact patient care."

"We are thrilled to add an individual of Dr. Suliman's impressive accomplishments, leadership and energy to our senior team.  Her successes in the areas of corporate and business development, product licensing and program management strategy at global leaders such as Roche, Genentech and Gilead speak for themselves," said Rick E Winningham, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Theravance Biopharma. "With a growing portfolio of novel therapeutics across several interesting indications and various stages of development, we are fortunate to strengthen our team with Dr. Suliman's unique insight and expertise."

Dr. Suliman most recently held the position of Vice President Roche Partnering, in which she served as Roche's global business development leader for its immunology, infectious disease and specialty care franchises. In this role, Dr. Suliman led the overall business development strategy, including acquisitions and licensing activities in these areas. In just over two years, she played a pivotal role in five successful transactions totaling just under $2 billion, including Roche's $580 million acquisition of Adheron Therapeutics. Prior to this position, Dr. Suliman served for more than four years as group leader of portfolio management and operations for Genentech. During this time, she oversaw the advancement of six small molecule and biologic programs from pre-IND stage to the end of Phase 2 in a range of immunology, infectious disease, neuroscience, cardio-metabolism, orphan drug and ophthalmic indications.

From 2004-2010, Dr. Suliman held several director level positions in corporate development with Gilead Sciences. Most recently serving as Senior Director, Corporate Development, where she played a leading role in developing and executing a successful diversification and growth strategy for Gilead into new therapeutic areas. In addition, Dr. Suliman also drove a successful licensing and alliance building effort that resulted in the execution of multiple strategic deals, including both in-licensing and out-licensing agreements. While at Gilead, she also played key roles in supporting the launch and commercial strategy for several branded therapeutics.

As a Rhodes Scholar, Dr. Suliman earned her MBA with distinction from Said Business School at the University of Oxford, as well as a Masters in Philosophy (MPhil) in development studies at the University of Oxford. She also received her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree from the University of Cape Town Medical School.

About Theravance Biopharma

Theravance Biopharma is a diversified biopharmaceutical company with the core purpose of creating medicines that help improve the lives of patients suffering from serious illness.

Our pipeline of internally discovered product candidates includes potential best-in-class medicines to address the unmet needs of patients being treated for serious conditions primarily in the acute care setting. VIBATIV® (telavancin), our first commercial product, is a once-daily dual-mechanism antibiotic approved in the U.S., Europe and certain other countries for certain difficult-to-treat infections. Revefenacin (TD-4208) is a long-acting muscarinic antagonist (LAMA) being developed as a potential once-daily, nebulized treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Our neprilysin (NEP) inhibitor program is designed to develop selective NEP inhibitors for the treatment of a range of major cardiovascular and renal diseases, including acute and chronic heart failure, hypertension and chronic kidney diseases, such as diabetic nephropathy. Our research efforts are focused in the areas of inflammation and immunology, with the goal of designing medicines that provide targeted drug delivery to tissues in the lung and gastrointestinal tract in order to maximize patient benefit and minimize risk. The first program to emerge from this research is designed to develop intestinally restricted pan-Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors for the treatment of a range of inflammatory intestinal diseases.

In addition, we have an economic interest in future payments that may be made by Glaxo Group Limited or one of its affiliates (GSK) pursuant to its agreements with Innoviva, Inc. relating to certain drug development programs, including the Closed Triple (the combination of fluticasone furoate, umeclidinium, and vilanterol), currently in development for the treatment of COPD and asthma.

For more information, please visit www.theravance.com.

THERAVANCE®, the Cross/Star logo, and VIBATIV® are registered trademarks of the Theravance Biopharma group of companies. Trademarks, trade names or service marks of other companies appearing on this press release are the property of their respective owners.

This press release contains certain "forward-looking" statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, statements relating to goals, plans, objectives, expectations and future events. Theravance Biopharma intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Examples of such statements include statements relating to: the Company's strategies, plans and objectives, the Company's regulatory strategies and timing of clinical studies, the potential benefits and mechanisms of action of the Company's product and product candidates, the Company's expectations for product candidates through development, potential regulatory approval and commercialization (including their potential as components of combination therapies) and the Company's expectations for product sales. These statements are based on the current estimates and assumptions of the management of Theravance Biopharma as of the date of the press release and are subject to risks, uncertainties, changes in circumstances, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results of Theravance Biopharma to be materially different from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements include, among others, risks related to: delays or difficulties in commencing or completing clinical studies, the potential that results from clinical or non-clinical studies indicate the Company's product candidates are unsafe or ineffective (including when our product candidates are studied in combination with other compounds),the feasibility of undertaking future clinical trials for our product candidates based on FDA policies and feedback, dependence on third parties to conduct clinical studies, delays or failure to achieve and maintain regulatory approvals for product candidates, risks of collaborating with or relying on third parties to discover, develop and commercialize products, risks associated with establishing and maintaining sales, marketing and distribution capabilities with appropriate technical expertise and supporting infrastructure and risks of developing an institutional customer mix for VIBATIV^® (telavancin) that meet the Company's plan for the product. Other risks affecting Theravance Biopharma are described under the heading "Risk Factors" contained in Theravance Biopharma's Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 9, 2017 and Theravance Biopharma's other filings with the SEC. In addition to the risks described above and in Theravance Biopharma's filings with the SEC, other unknown or unpredictable factors also could affect Theravance Biopharma's results. No forward-looking statements can be guaranteed and actual results may differ materially from such statements. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Theravance Biopharma assumes no obligation to update its forward-looking statements on account of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Contact Information:

Alexander Dobbin
Head of Investor Relations
650-808-4045
[email protected]

Tim Brons
Vida Strategic Partners (media)
646-319-8981
[email protected]

SOURCE Theravance Biopharma, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.theravance.com