Circassia Appoints Industry Veteran Jonathan Emms as Chief Operating Officer
Circassia Pharmaceuticals plc (“Circassia” or “the Company”; LSE: CIR), a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on respiratory disease, today announces the appointment of Jonathan Emms to the newly-created role of Chief Operating Officer (COO). As COO he will further strengthen Circassia’s commercial focus and lead the Company’s global commercial strategy and operational management. He will also join the Company’s Board as an Executive Director when he joins Circassia on 2 September 2019. At the same time Circassia’s Senior Vice President of R&D, Dr Rod Hafner, will step down from the Board after 11 years as a Director, reflecting the Company’s commercial focus now the approval process for Duaklir® and Tudorza®’s sNDA are complete. He will remain a key member of Circassia’s Senior Management Team and will continue in his role leading the Company’s business development, supply chain, medical affairs, regulatory and quality activities.
Chief Commercial Officer
Jonathan Emms is an established commercial leader who brings significant senior-level experience of the global pharmaceutical industry to Circassia. Prior to joining the Company, he was Chief Commercial Officer for Pfizer’s Internal Medicines organisation, where he led commercial activities across the company’s global operations. Previously, he held a number of senior positions at Pfizer, including Head of Marketing for its Global Established Pharmaceutical Business and Head of Marketing for Specialty Care, Europe, and oversaw the UK launch of Spiriva® under the company’s co-promotion agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. He was also Country Manager in the UK, Pfizer’s largest affiliate outside the United States, where he had responsibility for manufacturing, research and commercial operations and during his tenure was elected President of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). Prior to his time at Pfizer, Jonathan held several roles of increasing responsibility at GSK, where he gained significant respiratory experience, including leading the UK launch of Serevent® in COPD. He holds a BSc in Materials Technology from Coventry University, UK.
About Circassia
Circassia is a world-class specialty pharmaceutical business focused on respiratory disease. The Company sells its market-leading NIOX® asthma management products directly to specialists in the United States, United Kingdom, China and Germany, and in a wide range of other countries through its network of partners. In the United States, Circassia has a commercial collaboration with AstraZeneca in which it has the commercial rights to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) treatments Tudorza® and Duaklir®. Circassia also has the US and Chinese commercial rights to the late-stage ventilator-compatible nitric oxide product AirNOvent.