James Brady Joins Verona Pharma as Non-Executive Director

LONDON and RALEIGH, N.C., March 14, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Verona Pharma plc (Nasdaq: VRNA) (“Verona Pharma”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on respiratory diseases, announces Mr. James Brady has joined the board as a Non-Executive Director.

Mr. Brady has extensive experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, serving in multiple leadership roles of increasing responsibility across the US, Europe, and China, during his 30-plus-year career at AstraZeneca. He held national, regional, and global finance roles spanning corporate operations, manufacturing, commercial, marketing, market access, audit, international business, and biologics discovery and development. Most recently, Mr. Brady served as Chief Financial Officer of MedImmune, the biologics discovery and development division of AstraZeneca. During his tenure at MedImmune, biologics grew to represent more than half of the product development portfolio of AstraZeneca and five biologics were successfully brought to market.

“We are delighted to welcome James to the Board,” said Dr. David Ebsworth, Chairperson of Verona Pharma. “He brings a wealth of leadership, strategic and commercial expertise, which will be key as we prepare to submit our New Drug Application for ensifentrine and progress our commercialization plans.”

Throughout his career at AstraZeneca, James had P&L and management responsibilities for significant operating units and finance functions and in addition served as the Chief Audit Executive for the Company. His experience spans the full product development cycle from early research and clinical development to sales and product contracting. Mr. Brady currently serves as a Non-Executive Director on the board of Panavance Therapeutics. He is a CPA, holds an MBA from Drexel University and a BS in accounting from St. Joseph University.

Verona Pharma also announces today that Dr. Andrew Sinclair, Ph.D., Partner and Portfolio Manager at Abingworth, will step down from the board as a Non-Executive Director at the conclusion of Verona Pharma’s Annual General Meeting on April 27, 2022.

Dr. Ebsworth added: “We would like to thank Andrew for his many contributions to Verona Pharma’s development over the past five years, including helping to progress our novel product candidate, ensifentrine, into Phase 3 clinical trials and complete a $200 million financing.”

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About Verona Pharma

Verona Pharma is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapies for the treatment of respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs. If successfully developed and approved, Verona Pharma’s product candidate, ensifentrine, has the potential to be the first therapy for the treatment of respiratory diseases that combines bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory activities in one compound. The Company is evaluating nebulized ensifentrine in its Phase 3 clinical program ENHANCE (“Ensifentrine as a Novel inHAled Nebulized COPD thErapy”) for COPD maintenance treatment. Two additional formulations of ensifentrine are in Phase 2 development for the treatment of COPD: dry powder inhaler (“DPI”) and pressurized metered-dose inhaler (“pMDI”). Ensifentrine has potential applications in cystic fibrosis, asthma, and other respiratory diseases. For more information, please visit www.veronapharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

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