Verona Pharma appoints Kenneth Newman to newly-created chief medical officer position

Respiratory disease specialist Verona Pharma (AIM: VRP.L) has appointed Kenneth Newman to the newly-created chief medical officer position.

Dr Newman joins the company from Mesoblast, where he was chief development officer and head of global clinical development. Prior to this, he was chief medical officer at Acton Pharmaceuticals, and held positions at Boehringer Ingelheim and Forest Laboratories.

Jan-Anders Karlsson, chief executive of Verona, said: “I am delighted that Dr. Newman will be joining Verona Pharma in the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer, based in the US. His extensive experience in the clinical development of respiratory drugs, including his success in securing regulatory approvals, will be invaluable as we progress our lead drug, RPL554, in the clinic and through to commercialisation. This first-in-class PDE3/4 inhibitor is currently in phase II development as a nebulised treatment for acute exacerbations in COPD and asthma.  This is an area of high unmet medical need with an addressable market that is estimated to be in excess of $1 billion in the US alone.”