October 07, 2009 09:05 AM Eastern Time 

Amber Salzman Named President and CEO of Cardiokine

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cardiokine, Inc., a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of pharmaceuticals for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, today announced that Amber Salzman, Ph.D., has been named President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors.

“Her operational expertise will ensure the timely completion of the current Phase III clinical program for lixivaptan, the lead compound being developed in partnership with Biogen Idec.”

“Amber’s record of accomplishment and her passion to develop new medications for patients in need make her particularly well suited to lead Cardiokine during this next promising period in the company’s history,” said James H. Cavanaugh, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board. “Her operational expertise will ensure the timely completion of the current Phase III clinical program for lixivaptan, the lead compound being developed in partnership with Biogen Idec.”

Dr. Salzman brings to Cardiokine 25 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. As a member of the R&D executive team at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), she most recently served as Senior Vice President of Operations for Medicines Development, leading the planning and management of global drug-development projects and clinical trials comprising more than 30,000 patients at any one time. She also led initiatives to accelerate drug development and moderate development costs, such as establishing GSK’s Development Support Center in India.

Dr. Salzman commented, “I am delighted to join Cardiokine at this very exciting time. Our Phase III clinical trials that will form the basis of an NDA submission are recruiting robustly. I look forward to the day when lixivaptan will be approved to treat serious and widely prevalent unmet medical needs.”

Independently, she will continue to lead The Stop ALD Foundation, driving research and development of cutting-edge therapies for adrenoleukodystrophy, a life-threatening neurodegenerative disorder. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Dean of Drexel University School of Public Health.

Dr. Salzman holds a Bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Bryn Mawr College. She has been inducted into Temple’s League of Entrepreneurial Women Hall of Fame.

About lixivaptan
Lixivaptan is an investigational, oral, vasopressin-2 receptor antagonist in Phase III clinical studies. By acting selectively on the vasopressin-2 receptor, lixivaptan causes water to be excreted from the kidney with minimal loss of sodium or other electrolytes. Sodium plays a central role in blood-pressure maintenance, fluid regulation, and muscle contractility. An electrolyte imbalance in which the sodium concentration in the blood is too low, known as hyponatremia, may be associated with such various disorders as congestive heart failure, kidney disease, cirrhosis, and SIADH (syndrome of inappropriate anti-diuretic hormone). Signs and symptoms of hyponatremia can range from subtle to serious and include confusion, headache, muscle weakness, seizure, lethargy, fatigue, appetite loss, and coma.

About lixivaptan studies
Lixivaptan is being evaluated in multiple Phase III studies under a joint-development agreement between Cardiokine and Biogen Idec Inc. The largest of these is THE BALANCE study (Treatment of HyponatrEmia BAsed on LixivAptan in NYHA Class III/IV Cardiac Patient Evaluation). THE BALANCE study is a global, 650-patient trial of lixivaptan for hyponatremia in patients with heart failure. Information on studies conducted with lixivaptan can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

About Cardiokine
Cardiokine, headquartered in Philadelphia, is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development of pharmaceuticals for the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular related diseases. Additional information about Cardiokine is available at www.cardiokine.com.

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