Dr. John Amatruda Joins Cortendo As Acting Chief Medical Officer

Göteborg, Sweden-January 16, 2014. Cortendo AB [ticker: CORT on NOTC-A] today announced that Dr. John M. Amatruda has joined Cortendo as acting Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Amatruda will help to oversee all of Cortendo’s R&D programs with emphasis on clinical development.

“We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Amatruda to Cortendo at this critical stage of our corporate growth” says Dr. H. Joseph Reiser, CEO of Cortendo AB. “Considering John’s extensive industry and clinical experience in endocrinology, his guidance of our phase 3 development in Cushing’s Syndrome with NormoCort and our recent acquisition of diabetes company BioPancreate is particularly timely“ added Dr. Reiser.

Dr. John Amatruda, brings to Cortendo an in depth knowledge of endocrine diseases and drug development with a career spanning 41 years. He spent seven years at Merck & Co. where his most recent position was Senior Vice President & Franchise Head, Diabetes & Obesity. During this tenure his group was responsible for three drug approvals, most recently Januvia and Janumet. Prior to Merck he was at Bayer where he started the drug discovery group in metabolism and held the position of Vice President, Therapeutic Area Research Head, Metabolic Disorders. Dr. Amatruda’s long career in academia included the positions of Professor of Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center, Yale University, and currently, Columbia University. He is Board certified in Endocrinology & Internal Medicine.

“I have become very interested in Cortendo’s pipeline projects, and believe they are well positioned both in terms of satisfying important unmet medical needs and in terms of competitiveness to other products” says Dr. John Amatruda. “I look forward to assisting in the progression of this innovative pipeline”.

For further information, please contact:

Alexander Lindström

Chief Financial Officer
Office : +1 610 254 9200
Mobile : +1 917 349 7210

E-mail : alindstrom@cortendo.com

Risk and uncertainty

The development of pharmaceuticals carries significant risk. Failure may occur at any stage during development and commercialization due to safety or clinical efficacy issues. Delays may occur due to requirements from regulatory authorities not anticipated by the company.

About Cortendo

Cortendo AB is a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Göteborg, Sweden. Its stock is publicly traded on the NOTC-A-list (OTC) in Norway. Cortendo is a pioneer in the field of cortisol inhibition and has completed early clinical trials in patients with Type 2 diabetes. The lead drug candidate NormoCort, the 2S,4R-enantiomer of ketoconazole, has been re-focused to Cushing’s Syndrome, and is expected to enter Phase 3 development. The company’s strategy is to focus its resources to opportunities where the path to commercialization or partnership is clear and relatively near-term. Strategically, Cortendo’s business model is to commercialize relevant opportunities in the United States while partnering its assets ex-US. Backed by a highly experienced leadership team Cortendo has plans to continue to implement its pipeline expansion efforts in osteoarthritis and diabetes, as well as other near term revenue opportunities. 

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