NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SIGA Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: SIGA), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the health security market, today announced that Diem Nguyen, Ph.D., will join the Company as chief executive officer (CEO), effective January 27, 2024, and will also be appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. SIGA’s current CEO, Dr. Phil Gomez, will retire from SIGA on January 26, 2024.
“The appointment of Diem Nguyen as our new CEO marks a significant milestone for SIGA as we continue to expand our partnerships with governments across the world in global health security initiatives and medical countermeasure preparedness,” said Joseph (Chip) Marshall, chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Company’s Board of Directors. “Diem’s scientific expertise and proven leadership in driving commercial strategies and managing diverse portfolios makes her a strong addition to the SIGA team as the company plans for many important milestones and additional global business development in the years ahead.”
As CEO, Dr. Nguyen will lead SIGA’s ongoing efforts in the development, manufacture and global distribution of antiviral therapies for the treatment of infectious diseases including smallpox, mpox, and other diseases associated with orthopox viruses. Additionally, she will represent SIGA in engagements with government partners in the U.S. and internationally, playing a pivotal role in securing new contracts and partnerships.
“I am very pleased to join SIGA to help support the advancement of critical global health solutions including TPOXX for treatment of orthopox diseases such as mpox,” said Dr. Nguyen. “SIGA’s unwavering commitment to developing antiviral therapies for infectious diseases and other global health threats aligns strongly with my professional interests in addressing significant areas of global risk and unmet needs in healthcare. I look forward to working with the team as we advance SIGA’s mission of ensuring the availability of essential therapies worldwide.”
Dr. Nguyen joins SIGA from Xalud Therapeutics, a clinical stage biotechnology company developing treatments for inflammatory diseases, including pain associated with osteoarthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases, where she served as CEO. Prior to Xalud, Dr. Nguyen served as executive vice president of biopharma at PPD Inc., a leading global clinical research organization providing integrated drug development services. From 2009-2018, she served in several roles at Pfizer including global president, Americas, Pfizer Essential Health, where she was responsible for diverse commercial businesses in the U.S., Latin America, Canada, and Puerto Rico representing more than $11 billion in annual revenue. She earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular genetics at the University of Virginia, as well as an M.B.A. from Darden Graduate School of Business Administration.
ABOUT SIGA TECHNOLOGIES, INC. and TPOXX®
SIGA Technologies, Inc. is a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the health security market. Health security comprises countermeasures for biological, chemical, radiological and nuclear attacks (biodefense market), vaccines and therapies for emerging infectious diseases, and health preparedness. Our lead product is TPOXX®, also known as tecovirimat and ST-246®, an orally administered and IV formulation antiviral drug for the treatment of human smallpox disease caused by variola virus. TPOXX is a novel small-molecule drug and the US maintains a supply of TPOXX under Project BioShield. The oral formulation of TPOXX was approved by the FDA for the treatment of smallpox in 2018, and the IV formulation was approved for the same indication in 2022. The full label is available by clicking here. Oral tecovirimat received approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom in 2022. The EMA and UK approvals include labeling for oral tecovirimat indicating its use for the treatment of smallpox, monkeypox, cowpox, and vaccinia complications following vaccination against smallpox. The full label is available by clicking here. In September 2018, SIGA signed a contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for additional procurement and development related to both oral and intravenous formulations of TPOXX. For more information about SIGA, please visit www.siga.com.
About Smallpox
Smallpox is a contagious, disfiguring and often deadly disease that has affected humans for thousands of years. Naturally-occurring smallpox was eradicated worldwide by 1980, the result of an unprecedented global immunization campaign. Samples of smallpox virus have been kept for research purposes. This has led to concerns that smallpox could someday be used as a biological warfare agent. A vaccine can prevent smallpox, but the risk of the current vaccine’s side effects is too high to justify routine vaccination for people at low risk of exposure to the smallpox virus.
