Marinus Pharmaceuticals Hires Dr. Albena Patroneva as Chief Medical Officer

Print 07 January 2015

RADNOR, Pa., Jan. 7, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MRNS), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative neuropsychiatric therapeutics, today announced that it has retained Albena Patroneva, MD as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Patroneva brings close to 20 years of experience spanning across research, drug development, clinical, regulatory and commercialization activities focused in neurology with large pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, Wyeth and Takeda. As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Patroneva will oversee Marinus's clinical programs in epilepsy and pediatric orphan indications with its neurosteroid, ganaxolone.

"We are honored to welcome Dr. Patroneva to the growing Marinus team," commented Christopher Cashman, Chief Executive Officer of Marinus Pharmaceuticals.  "Albena brings a wealth of academic research experience in neuroscience and clinical experience as a neurologist and epileptologist. She has a successful track record in overseeing multiple late-stage clinical trials and navigating clinical and regulatory pathways. Albena will be an integral part of our senior executive team dedicated to the advancement of our adult seizure and pediatric orphan initiatives."

Dr. Patroneva is a neurologist by training and for nearly a decade, practiced medicine with a focus in epilepsy and neurophysiology. Most recently she served as Executive Medical Director, Therapeutic Area Group Advisor CNS at Takeda where she oversaw a group of physicians and a pipeline consisting of three Phase 3 programs and six early stage programs, including a compound targeting epilepsy. Prior to Takeda, Dr. Patroneva held various positions at AstraZeneca both in the United States and Bulgaria. Most recently she was Group Director of the physicians and scientists supporting the early psychiatry portfolio. While serving as Product Manager in AZ Bulgaria, she was responsible for the launch of Seroquel, an antidepressant approved for bipolar disorder. Earlier in her career, Dr. Patroneva was part of the Global Medical Affairs team at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals where, most notably, she coordinated a group of physicians to support the launch of Pristiq, an antidepressant approved to treat major depression. Academically, Dr. Patroneva was Assistant Professor in Neurophysiology at the Medical University in Sofia, Bulgaria. She received her MD from the Medical Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria and her MBA from the University "Assen Zlatarov" in Bourgas, Bulgaria.

"I am excited to join Marinus at such an important time in the Company's development," stated Dr. Patroneva. "Throughout my professional career, I have been following the clinical history of ganaxolone and have always been impressed with the potential benefit that ganaxolone may offer to children and adults suffering with epileptic seizures. With more than one million patients resistant to existing antiepileptic drugs, there is a great need for new therapies to adequately control the number and frequency of seizures. I look forward to collaborating with the team to move the on-going clinical trials forward to achieve the milestones anticipated in 2015 and beyond." 

About Marinus Pharmaceuticals

Marinus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of innovative neuropsychiatric therapeutics. The Company's clinical stage drug candidate, ganaxolone, is a novel synthetic analog of the endogenous neurosteroid, allopregnanolone. Ganaxolone is known for its anticonvulsive and antianxiety effects, and was designed to avoid hormonal side-effects associated with endogenous neurosteroids. Ganaxolone is presently being studied in a multinational, randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase 3 clinical trial in adult subjects for adjunctive treatment of partial-onset seizures. The Company currently has a Phase 2 proof-of-concept pediatric clinical trial in progress for ganaxolone as a treatment for behaviors in Fragile X Syndrome and is initiating a Phase 2 proof-of-concept clinical study later this year for the treatment of PCDH19 female pediatric epilepsy. Both Fragile X Syndrome and PCDH19 female pediatric epilepsy are potential orphan disorders that have been related to mutations affecting neurosteroid signaling at extrasynaptic GABAA receptors. For additional information, please visit the Company's website at www.marinuspharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

To the extent that statements contained in this press release are not descriptions of historical facts regarding Marinus, they are forward-looking statements reflecting the current beliefs and expectations of management made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Words such as "may", "will", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend", and similar expressions (as well as other words or expressions referencing future events, conditions or circumstances) are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  Examples of forward looking statements contained in this press release include, among others, statements regarding our expectations regarding our development plans for our product candidate, including optimizing a product's formulation and the clinical trial testing schedule. Forward-looking statements in this release involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause our clinical development programs, future results, performance or achievements to differ significantly from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the uncertainties inherent in the conduct of future clinical trials, the timing of the clinical trials, enrollment in clinical trials, availability of data from ongoing clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, and other matters, including the development of formulations of ganaxolone, that could affect the availability or commercial potential of our drug candidates.  Marinus undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.  For a further description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of the Company in general, see filings Marinus has made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

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