Jeffrey W. Albers Appointed President of Algeta US
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Algeta ASA has announced the appointment of Jeffrey W. Albers as President of Algeta US, the Company’s new US commercial operation.
He takes up his position immediately and will join Algeta’s executive management team, reporting to President and CEO, Andrew Kay.
Mr. Albers will work closely with Algeta’s senior management as part of the executive management team to enable Algeta’s US commercial operations; the current plans for which include the phased building of a sales force and a marketing and medical affairs team ahead of the launch of Alpharadin (radium-223 chloride) for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients with bone metastases, pending approval.
The US Food and Drug Administration granted Alpharadin Fast Track Designation, and commercial and regulatory activities are being undertaken for Alpharadin in anticipation of the first regulatory filings, which are expected in mid 2012.
In September 2009, Algeta entered into a licensing and development agreement with Bayer Pharma AG. Under the terms of the Bayer Agreement, Algeta has a right to co-promote Alpharadin in the United States for the prevention or treatment of disease.
Mr. Albers joins Algeta from Genzyme (Sanofi), where he spent the past seven years in senior commercial and corporate development positions, most recently as Vice President, US Hematology & Oncology Business.
In this role, Mr. Albers had P&L responsibility for a USD 250m business that included multiple marketed products along with a pipeline of products to treat hematologic and solid tumor malignancies.
He built and led a 135-person team spanning sales, operations, marketing, managed care, pricing and reimbursement, training and medical affairs.
He was also involved in evaluating in-licensing opportunities. Mr. Albers played a key role in the successful US launch of Mozobil® and integrating Campath® and Leukine® into the portfolio (acquired from Bayer in 2009) involving a significant field force restructuring.
After the acquisition of Genzyme by Sanofi he represented Genzyme on the US Oncology Integration Team. Prior to Genzyme, he spent five years (2000-2005) as an attorney at the law firm Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky & Popeo, where he focused on life sciences transactional work.
He has prior experience as a sales representative for Pfizer, Inc. Mr. Albers has a B.Sc. in Marketing from Indiana University, and a law degree (J.D.) and MBA from Georgetown University (Washington, DC).
Andrew Kay, Algeta’s President and CEO, said: “Jeff has established a strong track record of commercial leadership and sales success at Genzyme and he brings a broad array of commercial and corporate development experience to Algeta. Working closely with our senior management as part of the executive management team, we are confident his experience and drive will help the establishment of successful commercial operations in the United States, assuming Alpharadin regulatory filing in mid 2012 and subsequent regulatory approval.”
Jeff Albers added: “This is a very exciting time to be joining Algeta with Alpharadin advancing through the commercialization phase and its launch, pending approval, within sight. I look forward to working on the Algeta management team and with our partners at Bayer to build a US organization positioned to successfully launch Alpharadin for the treatment of bone metastases in patients with CRPC. In addition I am excited at the prospect of establishing Algeta’s alpha-pharmaceutical platform and expanding it into additional indications, with the goal of improving the lives of patients living with these debilitating diseases.”
