Unilife Expands Management Team to Support Business Growth

YORK, Pa., Aug. 11, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Unilife Corporation ("Unilife" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: UNIS; ASX: UNS) today announced strategic additions to its management team. These senior appointments will support Unilife in the progressive launch of the Unifill^® ready-to-fill (prefilled) syringe to a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as accelerate the commercialization of other pipeline devices within the Company's rapidly expanding portfolio of advanced drug delivery systems.

"The group of talented industry leaders that recently joined our team have strong backgrounds in the design, commercialization and sale of advanced drug delivery systems, further bolstering our existing capabilities and supporting our growth," stated Mr. Alan Shortall, CEO of Unilife. "Having recognized our potential to rewrite the rulebook for the drug delivery industry, these veterans of established medical device companies have approached Unilife wanting to be part of its success and the future of the industry."  

Dr. Ramin Mojdeh, COO of Unilife, stated: "Unilife is now at a stage where we can attract some of the most talented and respected professionals in the drug delivery device industry to join our team. These industry leaders, who held senior leadership roles in companies such as BD and Medtronic, recognize the significant opportunity we provide pharmaceutical companies through our innovative, differentiated devices that can be customized to meet the specific needs of their biological pipelines. Each of these new members of the Unilife team brings with them unique skills and expertise that will help us play a commanding role in redefining the industry from a place of ridged commodity offerings into one led by innovation and customer service."

Dr. Jack J. Kelley III - Vice President, Strategic Marketing

Dr. Jack Kelley was recently appointed as Vice President, Strategic Marketing of Unilife. He brings over 15 years of broad leadership experience across a number of businesses key to healthcare innovation and commercialization, including life science research, venture capital, investment banking, large cap medical device and pharmaceutical drug delivery. Dr. Kelley has held leadership positions in increasing levels of responsibility in multiple areas including research and development, business development, marketing and business leadership.

Dr. Kelley has worked at Medtronic, JP Morgan and Becton Dickinson. Most recently, he served as the Worldwide Director, Strategic Marketing and Business Development at BD Pharmaceutical Systems, a leading supplier of conventional prefilled syringes. Dr. Kelley also served as Worldwide Director, Research and Development for BD Medical Surgical Systems, a leading supplier of acute care consumables. Prior to BD, Dr. Kelley was Manager, Ventures and Business Development for Medtronic Diabetes, a market and technology leader in insulin drug delivery, where he was responsible for the general medication infusion pump business development activities with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Prior to his industrial career, Dr. Kelley held a dual faculty appointment as a Research Assistant Professor at Dartmouth College in the Departments of Chemistry and Computer Science. Dr. Kelley has published multiple peer reviewed journal articles on the biophysical characterization of proteins and DNA in solution. He continues to leverage and build upon that scientific experience today by augmenting Unilife's bio-analytical services for pharmaceutical partners. He holds a Doctorate in Biophysical Chemistry from Dartmouth College, an MBA from the University of Michigan, and a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Marquette University.

Dr. Kelley said: "I am extremely pleased to join an innovative drug delivery company with such a broad range of game-changing products as Unilife. I am honored to join this highly talented executive management team at such an exciting time in the Company's evolution and have the opportunity to help Unilife expand its commercial relationships. Unilife's differentiated technology and new US-based manufacturing capabilities are unrivaled, and well positioned to meet the unmet needs of our pharmaceutical customers in injectable drugs."

Michael C. Ratigan - Vice President of Commercial Development

Michael C. Ratigan has been appointed the Vice President of Commercial Development of Unilife.  He brings with him more than 17 years of experience in the life sciences industry as a business development professional managing product sales and marketing, customer acquisitions and business planning for two Fortune 500 companies and two European biotechnology companies.  Most recently, Mr. Ratigan was the Director of Self Administration of Injectable Systems (SAIS) at BD, where he headed up several North American commercial development programs. Prior to joining BD, Mr. Ratigan was Group Product Manager at Stryker Orthopaedics, where he was responsible for charting product development, and marketing and sales support of multiple product lines as well as the launch of two new products. In addition, he was a founding member and held business development and marketing positions at two German biotechnology companies, Ganymed Pharmaceuticals AG and Mermaid Pharmaceuticals GmbH. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from Boston College.

Mr. Ratigan said: "Unilife is uniquely poised to address the unmet needs of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the pharmaceutical and life sciences market. The Unifill syringe in particular represents a paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical market for prefilled syringe technology. Leading Unilife's commercial efforts and engaging with a multitude of pharmaceutical companies on a daily basis, it is very rewarding to be building long-term partnerships that are directly focused on serving customers' needs."

Ian Hanson - Director of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems

Unilife has appointed Ian Hanson as Director of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems. Mr. Hanson has a proven history of bringing drug delivery devices from concept stage through to commercial development, and is considered to be one of the world's foremost experts in subcutaneous infusion devices. Mr. Hanson joins Unilife from Medtronic Diabetes, where he served as the Senior Engineering Manager and the Leader of Advanced Engineering and Systems Department. While in this position, Mr. Hanson revamped the structure of his department in order to foster greater innovation of insulin delivery and glucose monitoring devices.  He was also the leader of some of the largest platform developments and an architect of the delivery platforms at Medtronic Diabetes.  He holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME) degree from the California Polytechnic State University.

Mr. Hanson said: "Having brought multiple infusion drug delivery systems to the market at Medtronic Diabetes, it is clear that Unilife has a great leadership team and are well positioned to deliver the advanced drug delivery systems that pharmaceutical companies need.  Compared to the large development departments and teams that I was responsible for at Medtronic Diabetes, I see Unilife as an extremely agile organization that enables people with tremendous talent to operate within an entrepreneurial environment where they can deliver on their promises. I have never before seen such a well-rounded team set up to provide such a diverse array of products from concept to commercial production so quickly and meticulously."

About Unilife Corporation

Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ: UNIS / ASX: UNS) is a U.S. based developer, manufacturer and supplier of advanced drug delivery systems with state-of-the-art facilities in Pennsylvania. Established in 2002, Unilife works with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative devices for use with their parenteral drugs and vaccines. Unilife has developed a broad, differentiated proprietary portfolio of its own injectable drug delivery products, including the Unifill^® and Unitract^® product lines of safety syringes with automatic, operator controlled needle retraction. Unifill represents the world's first prefilled syringe technology integrating safety within the primary drug container. The products are ideally positioned to help pharmaceutical companies maximize the lifecycle of their injectable drugs and enhance patient care. Unifill syringes, together with other devices that are part of the Unilife technology platform, can either be supplied to pharmaceutical customers ready for use, or customized to address the specific requirements of targeted novel drugs.  For more information on Unilife, please visit www.unilife.com.  

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Our management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and those described from time to time in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

General: UNIS-G

SOURCE Unilife Corporation