|
 JUNE
27, 2006 ESP Pharma Founder Launches
EKR Therapeutics with Financing Led by NewSpring Capital and
ESP Equity Partners
Company To Focus on Oncology Supportive Care
Segment
Cedar Knolls, NJ, June 27, 2006 - EKR
Therapeutics, Inc, an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company
has completed its first institutional financing led by NewSpring
Capital and ESP Equity Partners. EKR will be led by Howard
Weisman, former founder, President and Director of ESP Pharma,
formed in 2002 and sold to PDL Biopharma (NASDAQ: PDLI) for
over $500 million. Mr. Weisman, Chairman and CEO of the company,
is joined by EKR co-founders Cathy Kerzner and Richard DeSimone
who will serve as President and Chief Financial Officer, respectively.
Mr. Weisman noted, "We see a tremendous
opportunity to focus on significant unmet needs of cancer
patients, many of whom are now able to live as cancer survivors,
and as a result, require various support products that enable
them to undergo treatments over increasingly longer time horizons.
The specialty pharmaceutical model of a focused therapeutic
franchise will ensure that these patients get access to the
best products our industry has to offer."
According to the company,
plans are underway to launch its first product later this
summer, and recruitment of personnel in sales, marketing and
medical areas is commencing immediately. Kerzner, a pharmaceutical
industry veteran formerly at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals is also
President-elect of the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association.
She remarked, "I am excited about the prospects of EKR
Therapeutics and look forward to helping build a company that
will deliver high value products to patients who are determined
to survive cancer and maintain the highest possible quality
of life that can be achieved using novel prescription medicines."
According to Zev Scherl,
a General Partner at NewSpring Capital who will serve on the
Board of Directors with Mr. Weisman and Mr. DeSimone, "We
have tracked Weisman since the founding and successful sale
of ESP Pharma to PDL BioPharma last year, and NewSpring Capital
is pleased to partner with him and the entrepreneurial EKR
team he has assembled. We are confident EKR will be successful
in improving the quality of life of cancer survivors who deserve
to live comfortably during and after their courses of oncological
treatment."
About EKR Therapeutics, Inc.
EKR Therapeutics was founded to
provide prescription products and therapeutic solutions that
support and improve the quality of life of cancer patients.As
new and increasingly effective therapies emerge, more patients
survive cancer. Oncology supportive care is becoming an increasingly
critical component in support of patients as they progress
through the complex arena of oncology treatment.The management
team of EKR believes that cancer survival is largely impacted
by the appropriate management of side effects encountered
by patients undergoing therapy. EKR Therapeutics is committed
to collaborating with the full scope of healthcare practitioners
in helping patients adhere to primary treatment through the
use of supportive care products.
About NewSpring Capital
NewSpring Capital, located in King
of Prussia, PA and New York, NY, is a family of specific-purpose
private equity funds, which includes: NewSpring Ventures,
L.P., a venture capital fund providing equity capital to growth
and expansion stage companies with a focus on information
technology, business services and health care; Commerce Health
Ventures, L.P., a venture capital fund focused on intermediate-and-late
stage life science and health care companies; and NewSpring
Mezzanine Capital, L.P., a regionally focused mezzanine debt
fund that invests in information technology, business services,
health care and specialty manufacturing.
About ESP Equity Partners, LLC
ESP Equity Partners LLC is a private
investment company that works closely with experienced local
management teams to acquire pharmaceutical and medical assets
in targeted therapeutic areas. ESP Equity is led by successful
healthcare entrepreneurs with extensive international experience
and a track record of sourcing undervalued products and executing
deals in the US, Asia and South America.
|
Home
Press
Releases