Milestone Pharmaceuticals Appoints Lorenz Muller as Chief Commercial Officer

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Milestone Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., a clinical stage cardiovascular company, today announced the appointment of Lorenz Muller as Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Muller brings nearly 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience to Milestone where he served startup-to-large multinational companies. Most recently, he held commercial leadership roles in the launch of multiple specialty pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, including RANEXA®, EFFIENT®, and SAVAYSA®.

"Lorenz brings a track record of success in the cardiovascular space which is ideally suited for Milestone and the development of etripamil," said Joseph Oliveto, Milestone's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Lorenz's hiring follows recent and ongoing consultation with the FDA which provides confidence to undertake our pivotal Phase 3 study (NODE-301) and to build commercial plans for what could become the only patient-administered treatment for the acute termination of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) episodes."

"Treatment of PSVT with etripamil represents a tremendous opportunity to address an unmet medical need and tap into a potentially significant, unrealized market," said Mr. Muller. "The ability to manage PSVT episodes quickly and conveniently wherever and whenever they occur is paradigm-changing and may result in immediate relief for patients, as well as a significant reduction in health care costs. I'm pleased to join the Milestone team as we build the commercial foundation for etripamil."

Mr. Muller joins Milestone from Exact Sciences Corporation where he served as Vice President, Marketing and directed the repositioning of Cologuard® to a patient-centric orientation that contributed to significant revenue growth for the product. Prior to Exact, Mr. Muller was Executive Director, Thrombosis, at Daiichi Sankyo, where he built the marketing and brand teams in the US and led the launch of oral anti-coagulant and anti-platelet products SAVAYSA® and EFFIENT®, with the latter achieving over $500M in annual US sales. Prior to Daiichi Sankyo, Mr. Muller was Vice President of Marketing and Healthcare Outcomes at CV Therapeutics (CVT) where he led the U.S. launch of RANEXA®, the company's first cardiovascular product and a novel treatment for chronic angina which brought in over $600M in US sales last year. Prior to CVT, Mr. Muller served in various analytical, marketing and sales roles at Merck & Co., Inc. Mr. Muller received his MBA from Harvard University and earned his MS and BS degrees in Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Etripamil
Etripamil is a novel, potent, short-acting calcium channel blocker developed as a fast-acting nasal spray that can be administered by the patient to terminate paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) episodes wherever and whenever they occur. A Phase 2 clinical trial (NODE-1) was successfully completed in the United States and Canada. Information regarding the NODE-1 clinical trial may be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov (study identifier NCT02296190). Milestone is actively recruiting clinical sites for a Phase 3 trial of etripamil in the at-home setting enrolling patients with confirmed diagnosis of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) and atrioventricular re-entry tachycardia (AVRT). Etripamil is not currently approved for the treatment of PSVT or for any other indication anywhere in the world.

About Paroxysmal Supraventricular Tachycardia
Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia is a condition that afflicts approximately 1.7 million people and results in over 600,000 healthcare claims in the US alone per year. During a PSVT episode, patients may feel palpitations while heart rate increases dramatically and can exceed 200 beats per minute. Although the condition is not life threatening, it causes great distress to the patient and often results in a visit to a hospital emergency room where the patient is usually administered intravenous drugs and monitored until the symptoms resolve.

About Milestone Pharmaceuticals
Milestone, with headquarters in Montreal, Canada and a US subsidiary in Charlotte, NC, is a clinical stage drug development company focused on developing etripamil, a calcium channel blocker intended to provide fast-acting and short-acting treatment of PSVT episodes. For more information, please visit www.milestonepharma.com.

Contact:
David Pitts
Argot Partners
212-600-1902 
david@argotpartners.com