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EXHIBIT 99.1
SUPERGEN MOVES INTO NEW HEADQUARTERS;
ANNOUNCES THREE PROMOTIONS AND ONE NEW HIRE
DUBLIN, Calif., Dec. 21, 2000 -- SuperGen (NASDAQ: SUPG & SUPGZ) announced
today that it has relocated its corporate headquarters from the 10,000-
square-foot facility it has occupied in San Ramon, California, into a new
50,000-square-foot facility in Dublin, California. The company's new address
is: 4140 Dublin Blvd., Suite 200, Dublin, Calif., 94568.
The company announced three promotions and also one new hire in the sales
and marketing department. Dr. Ashok Gore has been promoted from executive
director to vice-president of product development for his role in successfully
moving forward the rubitecan and paclitaxel projects; Tim Enns, executive
director of marketing, has been promoted to vice-president of marketing; Robert
Marshall, national sales manager, has been promoted to vice president of sales;
and, Frank Brenner, who served as vice president of sales and marketing from
1992-1998, has rejoined the company as vice president of national accounts. The
company also announced that Ed Jacobs, executive vice president of commercial
operations, will be leaving the company in the new year to become president and
chief executive officer of Cambridge, Mass.-based Etex Corporation. Also, Ron
Spair, chief financial officer, will be joining Monmouth Junction, N.J.-based
Delsys Pharmaceutical Corporation as vice president and chief financial officer
in the new year. Both companies are in the pre-IPO stage.
"Ed Jacobs joined SuperGen in early 1999 with the intention of playing a
vital role in commercializing our three broad-based anticancer therapies
-rubitecan, Nipent-Registered Trademark- and decitabine - for a variety of
indications," said Dr. Joseph Rubinfeld, chairman and chief executive officer
of SuperGen. "Toward that end, his tenure with us has been a successful one,
as he helped expand our sales and marketing and business development efforts.
He is leaving a strong infrastructure in place which is empowering us to move
aggressively forward with our programs.
"Ron Spair joined SuperGen after we acquired his former company, Sparta
Pharmaceuticals, in the summer of 1999, and has since played a significant role
in the financial and fund-raising successes of the past year. He also
orchestrated the integration of Sparta's and SuperGen's operations into one
company," added Dr. Rubinfeld.
"Both Ed and Ron have expressed the desire and commitment to be actively
involved in any transitional aspects that may arise in the coming months," said
Dr. Rubinfeld. "We certainly appreciate both Ed's and Ron's enthusiasm for
wanting to continue to help guide SuperGen towards commercial success, and wish
them well in their new positions. SuperGen is quickly becoming recognized as a
superior 'training ground' for key administrators, and I am personally proud to
have helped mentor these fine executives."
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The company also announced the filing of a Registration Statement on Form
S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Registration Statement,
upon effectiveness, will primarily register SuperGen Inc. Common Stock issued in
connection with certain technology licensing and acquisition transactions,
including 200,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of warrants with
an exercise price of $40 per share.
ETEX Corporation is an advanced biomaterials company focused on products
that promote bone repair and enable controlled delivery therapies. ETEX has
developed proprietary drug delivery platforms in osteobiologics and oncology as
well as implant surface treatments and coatings.
Delsys Pharmaceutical Corporation is engaged in the development of novel
dry-powder, electrostatic-deposition technology for the formulation and
manufacture of proprietary pharmaceutical dosage forms.
Based in Dublin, California, SuperGen is a pharmaceutical company dedicated
to the development and commercialization of products intended to treat
life-threatening diseases, particularly cancer.
Statements relating to SuperGen's commercialization of its products are
"forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbors created
thereby. Such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties associated with
an emerging pharmaceutical company actively involved in clinical trials. Actual
results could differ materially from those projected in the `forward-looking'
statements as a result of failure to obtain the clinical data necessary to
support marketing approval of its products under development, unforeseen delays
in clinical-trial management, adverse FDA actions, as well as other risks
discussed in SuperGen's reports on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission (including, but not limited to, the report on Form 10-K for the
fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, and its report on Form 10-Q for the quarter
ended September 30, 2000).
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