Corporate restructuring announced by Akela Pharma to achieve several operational objectives

Sep 3 2009

Akela Pharma, Inc., (TSX: AKL) and its wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary, PharmaForm, today announced a comprehensive corporate restructuring designed to achieve several operational objectives. As part of its efforts to preserve its ability to execute on its development strategy for the company's lead compound, Fentanyl TAIFUN(R) for the treatment of breakthrough cancer pain, and to optimize the infrastructure required to support its PharmaForm clients, the company has reduced its head count by 32 employees to a combined workforce of 65. Further, several of Akela's international operations will be closed and the company's operational headquarters will be centralized in Austin, Texas. Akela Pharma is a leader in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of pain, and its PharmaForm subsidiary provides a range of innovative technologies in drug product development, manufacturing and analytical testing to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Concurrent with the restructuring, Taneli Jouhikainen, former acting chief executive officer of Akela, will be leaving the company. Ed Margerrison, Ph.D., Akela's vice president, program management, will lead the Fentanyl TAIFUN project, and Marcelo Omelczuk, Ph.D., Akela's senior vice president, business and product development, will be responsible for the day-to-day operations of PharmaForm. In addition, Rudy Emmelot, formerly with Nventa Biopharmaceuticals, has joined Akela as vice president, finance.

Akela remains committed to building shareholder value through the development of high value, proprietary products such as Fentanyl TAIFUN and others and concurrently, the company seeks to strengthen its revenue base from the PharmaForm business. Akela management is currently formalizing a new operating plan designed to optimize value from both business segments and will provide additional guidance on its corporate objectives in the near future.