Exhibit 99.2
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Siegfried/Jeremy Fielding
Kekst and Company
212-521-4800
ENDO PHARMACEUTICALS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF NEW DIRECTOR
AND HIRING OF TWO NEW EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND
TWO NEW EXECUTIVES
JOIN GROWING MANAGEMENT TEAM AT LEADING PAIN-MANAGEMENT
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY
Chadds Ford, PA, September 27, 2000 - Endo Pharmaceuticals
Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: ENDP and ENDPW), a fully integrated pharmaceuticals
company with market leadership in pain management, today announced the
appointment of a new director as well as the hiring of two new executive
officers and two new executives further building the expertise of its
senior management team. Joseph T. O'Donnell, Jr. has been appointed by the
company's Board of Directors to serve on the Board, taking the place of
David Fyfe, who resigned in order to pursue other opportunities. Joining
the executive management team are Peter A. Lankau as Senior Vice President,
U.S. Business and Caroline E. Berry as Senior Vice President, General
Counsel and Secretary. In addition, Bradley S. Galer, MD joined Endo as
Vice President, Scientific Affairs and James H. Conover, Ph.D. joined as
Vice President, Regulatory Affairs.
Carol A. Ammon, President and Chief Executive Officer, said "The
company is very pleased to have Mr. O'Donnell join the Board of Directors.
His experience at Metzler Corporation as well as his long history at
Bankers Trust will add a welcome perspective to the Board. We thank Mr.
Fyfe for his contributions to the Endo Board and wish him well in his new
endeavors. In addition, we are very excited to welcome Mr. Lankau, Ms.
Berry, Dr. Galer and Mr. Conover to the Endo team. As a group, these
talented and enthusiastic individuals will make an immediate contribution
in helping Endo achieve even greater success in the growing pain-management
market. Individually, Ms. Berry provided us with valuable counsel during
our merger with Algos, and we are thrilled that she accepted our offer to
become our in-house counsel. A leader in the development of the discipline
of pain management, Dr. Galer brings unique perspective to Endo and is
extremely well equipped to serve as our chief medical officer. For over
twenty-five years, Mr. Lankau has developed his expertise in the sales and
marketing of pharmaceuticals, and Endo will benefit greatly from his
business acumen and strategic vision. Finally, Mr. Conover has a wealth of
experience in regulatory issues, and is ideally-suited to take charge of
the process of regulatory approvals for Endo's innovative pain-management
products."
JOSEPH T. O'DONNELL, JR.
Joseph T. O'Donnell, Jr. is currently the President of Metzler
Corporation, New York City. Metzler Corporation is the U.S. based corporate
finance affiliate of B.Metzler seel. Sohn & Co., Frankfurt, Germany. B.
Metzler is the oldest privately owned investment bank in Germany, having
been owned by the same family since 1674. Metzler Corporation provides M&A
and corporate finance advisory services to American companies regarding
their German/European activities and provides similar services to German
companies concerning the North American market.
Prior to joining Metzler, Mr. O'Donnell spent 26 years at various
affiliates of Bankers Trust Corporation. From 1986 to 2000, he was involved
in the acquisition and leveraged finance business, recently in charge of
the firm's relationships with financial sponsors in New York. This involved
arranging and distributing leveraged loans and high yield bond financings
for a variety of clients over a wide range of industries, usually in the
context of an acquisition. Prior to 1986, Mr. O'Donnell was involved in the
firm's global Airline and Aerospace Division and in middle market financing
activities in the New York metropolitan area. He is a graduate of
Georgetown University and has an MBA from New York University.
PETER A. LANKAU
In June, Peter A. Lankau joined Endo as Senior Vice President,
U.S. Business and as such has responsibility for all business functions in
the Company including Sales and Marketing, Market Research, Strategic
Marketing, and Business Development.
Mr. Lankau has over twenty-five years of sales and marketing
experience, both domestic and international, in the pharmaceutical
industry, and most recently held the position of Vice President, Sales -
U.S. Pharmaceuticals for Rhone Poulenc Rorer, Inc. At RPR, Mr. Lankau was
responsible for all strategic, financial and organizational development for
their sales and support organization comprised of three field sales forces,
training and development, sales operations and strategic planing and
communications. He also has experience in overseeing the managed care,
generic and trade functions, while also having been head of a fully
integrated business unit. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in
Biology (with a minor in Business) from the University at Albany, State
University of New York.
CAROLINE E. BERRY, ESQ.
In September, Caroline E. Berry, Esq. joined Endo as Senior Vice
President, General Counsel and Secretary. As General Counsel, Ms. Berry
will have responsibility for the Legal department and as such, will be
responsible for corporate governance and all legal matters impacting Endo.
As Secretary of the Company, she will serve as liaison to the Board of
Directors.
Ms. Berry received her law degree from Fordham University School
of Law, New York, where she served as Editor-in-Chief, Fordham Urban Law
Journal. She received her BA cum laude from Middlebury College. She is a
member of the New York Bar and admitted to practice in New Jersey.
Prior to joining Endo, Ms. Berry was an Associate at the law firm
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher, & Flom LLP since graduating from law school.
She has broad corporate experience representing public and private
companies including advising companies in strategic transactions such as
mergers and asset and stock acquisitions. She also has extensive experience
in contract matters, as well as corporate governance, securities laws and
other issues involving public companies. Additionally, Ms. Berry has had
significant dealings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Most recently, Ms. Berry represented Endo Pharmaceuticals and was
a key contributor to taking Endo Pharmaceuticals public and completing the
July 2000 merger with Algos Pharmaceuticals.
BRADLEY S. GALER, MD
In August, Bradley S. Galer, MD joined Endo as Vice President,
Scientific Affairs. Dr. Galer will provide technical leadership and
direction to the departments of Clinical Research, Medical Affairs, and
Clinical Development & Education. As the company's senior medical officer,
he will be the primary interface between Endo and opinion leaders in pain
medicine and will be the primary liaison with the FDA on clinical issues.
He will ensure medical/technical support to marketing, will have ultimate
responsibility for the evaluation of the safety of Endo's products and will
provide medical/technical advice to management. Prior to him joining the
company, Dr. Galer was actively involved in the approval of Lidoderm, as
both a principal investigator and consultant.
Dr. Galer received his M.D. from Albert Einstein College of
Medicine in New York. He served his internship at Kaiser Foundation
Hospital, his residency in Albert Einstein's Neurology Program, and Pain
Fellowships at both Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center and University
of California San Francisco. He obtained his B.A. in Biology-Psychology at
Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.
Dr. Galer comes to Endo from the Department of Pain Medicine and
Palliative Care at Beth Israel Medical Center, New York where he was
Director of Clinical Studies and Co-Director, Nerve Pain Disorders Clinic.
Dr. Galer is a founding member of, and was chairman for, the Pain
Medicine Section of the American Academy of Neurology over the past two
years. He has published over 100 articles and book chapters regarding pain
management and pain pharmacotherapy. He is a co-chair of the annual
International Neuropathic Pain Conference. In addition, Dr. Galer holds
academic memberships in a dozen medical societies, including the
International Association for the Study of Pain, The American Academy of
Pain Management and the American Academy of Neurology. He was named in the
1998 Best Doctors in America for Pain Management/Neurology.
Dr. Galer is editor of Current Pain and Headache Reports, editor
of Progress in Pain Management for Primary Care, the associate editor for
The Clinical Journal of Pain and the book editor for the Journal of Pain
and Symptom Management and is an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of the
American Medical Association, Pain, and the Journal of Pain and Symptom
Management. He has been published over 50 original articles in Neurology,
Pain, the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, and the Clinical Journal
of Pain and has also written over a dozen book chapters. He is writer and
editor of the pain medicine section of the website www.stoppain.org.
Dr. Galer is sole author of an interactive CDROM teaching device
for patients and physicians-Chronic Pain and Headache. He has lectured
internationally to both doctors and patients. He wrote and moderated the
television show, Shingles, Treating the Chronic Pain, has hosted internet
pain management chat-rooms and webcasts, and is the national physician
spokesperson for the After Shingles Program.
JAMES H. CONOVER, PH.D.
In May, James H. Conover, Ph.D. joined Endo as Vice President,
Regulatory Affairs. Prior to joining Endo, Dr. Conover gained significant
pain management experience at the Purdue Frederick Company where he was
Executive Director of Drug Regulatory Affairs and Compliance. Prior to
that, he was Director, Worldwide Regulatory Affairs for Parke-Davis a
division of Warner Lambert. Dr. Conover received an MS in Biology and a
Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Human Genetics from New York University and a BS
in Biology from Siena College.
At Endo, Dr. Conover will lead the Regulatory Affairs department
for the Company creating a structure and system of best practices that will
guide Endo's products through the FDA approval process, bring them
expeditiously to market and assure compliance with all post-approval
maintenance requirements.
ABOUT ENDO
Endo, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Endo Pharmaceuticals
Inc. and Endo Inc., is a fully integrated specialty pharmaceutical company
with market leadership in pain management. The company is engaged in the
research, development, sales and marketing of both branded and generic
pharmaceutical products primarily for the treatment of pain. Endo has a
portfolio of thirteen branded products that includes established brands
such as Percocet(R) and Percodan(R), opioid analgesics that treat
moderate-to-severe pain.
To the extent any statements made in this release contain
information that is not historical, these statements are essentially
forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties. As a result of
such risks and uncertainties, which include, but are not limited to, the
difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, risks with respect to technology
and product development, the effect of competing products and prices,
uncertainties regarding intellectual property protection, changes in
operating results and other risks discussed from time to time in Endo's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, actual results may
differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements.
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