Healthcare Industry News: Ligand Pharmaceuticals
News Release - January 3, 2007
Auriga Laboratories Appoints Richard K. Sampson as National Sales Director
Experienced Specialty Pharmaceutical Executive to Lead Rapidly Growing Sales OrganizationNORCROSS, Ga.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--Auriga Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: ARGA ) or "Auriga", a specialty pharmaceutical company with products for the treatment of acute respiratory diseases, dermatological conditions, and Xerostomia, announced today that it has appointed Richard K. Sampson as National Sales Director. Mr. Sampson has extensive sales experience, helping to generate significant sales increases at rapidly growing specialty pharmaceutical companies. Mr. Sampson will be responsible for managing the Company's growing pharmaceutical sales organization. Auriga recently announced that it had expanded its sales force to 56 representatives from just 9 less than six months ago.
Mr. Sampson joins Auriga from Ligand Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: LGND ), where he has been Regional Business Manager since 2004. At Ligand, he developed a Primary Care Sales Division and was responsible for developing the marketing plan for its Pain Therapy program targeted at specialty physicians. In this role, he trained pharmaceutical representatives on product marketing. Prior to joining Ligand, he was Director, U.S. Sales and National Accounts for PharmaDerm, a division of Altana, Inc. While there, he constructed a sales organization that generated more than $2 million in sales of dermatological products in its first year. At PharmaDerm, Mr. Sampson also effectively launched five products which were successfully sold nationally by the company.
"We are excited to attract such an experienced executive as Richard to help manage our growth," said Philip S. Pesin, Chief Executive Officer of Auriga Laboratories. "In a short period of time, we have recruited a talented group of pharmaceutical representatives who have been attracted by the opportunities created by our promising portfolio of products. With Richard leading our sales efforts, we are well positioned to further expand our recruiting activities and help our sales representatives become even more productive."
Prior to joining PharmaDerm, Mr. Sampson held managerial positions at Elan Pharmaceuticals, where he was Market Development Manager responsible for CNS Marketing in the Southeastern United States and a District Sales Manager in the region. Previously, he was responsible for U.S., Canadian and Puerto Rican pharmaceutical studies for Novartis Ophthalmics.
"I am pleased to join Auriga at such an important time in its development," said Mr. Sampson. "In my experience, I have never seen a company assemble a portfolio of products as quickly as it has or build a sales organization so rapidly. I look forward to helping the Company increase sales of existing products and to launching innovative new products."
Mr. Sampson received his B.S. in Chemistry from Freed Hardeman University and his Masters in Business Administration from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Auriga Laboratories(TM) is a specialty pharmaceutical company capitalizing on high-revenue markets and opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry through proactive sales, integrated marketing and advanced in-house drug development capabilities. The Company's high-growth business model combines acquisition of proven brand names, powerful product development strategies and rapidly-growing national sales teams and marketing operations. Auriga acquires valuable brand portfolios that are no longer a strategic focus for large pharmaceutical companies, then capitalizes on untapped marketplace opportunities through brand extension and directed sales/marketing programs. The Company's drug-development pipeline leverages novel material science and advanced drug delivery technologies to produce improved formulations of successful brands to further expand markets, sales and clinical indications for proven, successful products. Auriga's exclusive product portfolio currently includes the Extendryl® and Levall® families of prescription products, indicated for relief of symptoms associated with a range of acute respiratory diseases. Auriga's product portfolio also consists of Aquoral(TM) for the treatment of Xerostomia. Auriga plans to become a fully integrated pharmaceutical company by acquiring its own manufacturing and development capabilities. Moving forward, the Company will seek to acquire and/or in-license additional products and technologies to further grow revenues. For more information, please visit: www.aurigalabs.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our documents filed from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Statements regarding our ability to increase its sales force and the success of such sales force in selling our products in light of competitive and other factors, the regulatory status and/or regulatory compliance of our products, our ability to secure additional financing, our ability to sustain market acceptance for our products, our dependence on collaborators, our ability to find and execute strategic transactions, our potential exposure to litigation, our exposure to product liability claims, and our prices, future revenues and income and cash flows and other statements that are not historical facts contain predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our goals will be achieved and these statements will prove to be accurate. Important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.
Source: Auriga Laboratories
Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its
content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.
