La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company Appoints Darryl Wellinghoff as Chief Commercial Officer

Globe Newswire 11-Mar-2019 7:30 AM

SAN DIEGO, March 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company (NASDAQ:LJPC), a leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapies intended to significantly improve outcomes in patients suffering from life-threatening diseases, today announced the appointment of Darryl Wellinghoff as Chief Commercial Officer.

"We are excited to welcome Darryl to La Jolla's leadership team," said George Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D., La Jolla's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Darryl brings extensive and highly relevant experience and depth of knowledge in sales, marketing, product launch and market access gained as a result of many successful product launches. He no doubt will help us continue fulfilling our mission of providing potentially life-saving therapies to patients in need."

"La Jolla is developing life-saving products in areas of medicine that have had little innovation for decades, GIAPREZA is a great example of that. We have an incredible opportunity with GIAPREZA to impact the lives of patients and support our physician and hospital partners to deliver better outcomes for these complex patients," added Mr. Wellinghoff. "I look forward to working with the team to execute a commercial strategy that drives results and fulfills the life-saving mission of the company."

Prior to joining La Jolla, Mr. Wellinghoff spent 19 years in roles of increasing responsibility in the pharmaceutical industry including 15 years at The Medicines Company where he was the Senior Vice President - Americas, leading the commercial organization through multiple hospital-based product launches in Cardiovascular, Surgical, and Infectious Disease.  After a successful career at The Medicines Company, Mr. Wellinghoff was recruited to lead the build-out and launch of an innovative care model that addressed an unmet need in patients requiring inpatient care following a hospital stay. This experience allowed Mr. Wellinghoff to continue building deep relationships with healthcare leaders, physicians, and policy makers across the U.S. and deliver a much needed solution that benefited patients, providers and payors.

About La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company

La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapies intended to significantly improve outcomes in patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. GIAPREZA™ (angiotensin II), formerly known as LJPC-501, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on December 21, 2017 as a vasoconstrictor indicated to increase blood pressure in adults with septic or other distributive shock. LJPC-0118 is La Jolla's investigational product for the treatment of severe malaria. LJPC-401 (synthetic human hepcidin), a clinical-stage investigational product, is being developed for the potential treatment of conditions characterized by iron overload, such as hereditary hemochromatosis, beta thalassemia, sickle cell disease, myelodysplastic syndrome and polycythemia vera. For more information, please visit www.ljpc.com.

NASDAQ Rule 5653(c)(4) Notice

Mr. Wellinghoff was awarded an option to purchase up to 80,000 shares of common stock on the commencement of his employment as an inducement to join the Company (Inducement Option). The Inducement Option, which has an exercise price equal to the fair value of the Company's common stock on the date of grant, vests over a four-year period from the date of grant. The Inducement Option was granted outside of the Company's shareholder-approved equity compensation plans, but will be governed in all respects as if granted under the Company's 2013 Equity Incentive Plan.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to expectations regarding future events or La Jolla's future results of operations. These statements are only predictions or statements of current expectations and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. La Jolla cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they were made. Certain of these risks, uncertainties and other factors are described in greater detail in La Jolla's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), all of which are available free of charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. These risks include, but are not limited to, risks relating to: our ability to successfully commercialize, market and achieve market acceptance of GIAPREZA; our ability to grow net sales of GIAPREZA; potential market sizes, including for septic or other distributive shock; the timing and prospects for approval of GIAPREZA by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) or other regulatory authorities; the scope of product label(s) and potential market sizes, as well as the broader commercial opportunity for GIAPREZA and our product candidates; the impact of pharmaceutical industry regulation and healthcare legislation in the United States; the expected duration over which La Jolla's cash balances will fund its operations; and other risks and uncertainties identified in our filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements are presented as of the date of this press release, and La Jolla expressly disclaims any intent to update any forward-looking statements to reflect the outcome of subsequent events.

Company Contacts

Sandra Vedrick
Director, Investor Relations & Human Resources
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company
Phone: (858) 207-4264 Ext: 1135
Email: svedrick@ljpc.com

and

Dennis M. Mulroy
Chief Financial Officer
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company
Phone: (858) 207-4264 Ext: 1040
Email: dmulroy@ljpc.com