Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:SCMP), a leading international biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has been selected as a finalist for the Scrip Awards 2008 Pharma Company of the Year –– Small and Medium–Sized Enterprises Award. The Scrip Awards recognize the superior business performance of global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as companies that contribute to the advancement of science and healthcare.
"Being selected as a finalist for Scrip Awards 2008 Pharma Company of the Year in this category, after AMITIZA® was a finalist for the 2006 Scrip Awards Best New Small Molecule, reflects our efforts to achieve significant business milestones while advancing our innovative pipeline," said Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. "All of us at Sucampo Pharmaceuticals are greatly honored to be among the five finalists for this award."
Scrip´s "Pharma Company of the Year" Award for enterprises with revenues under $5 billion recognizes outstanding achievement by a growing pharmaceutical company over the twelve–month period of June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008. Among the criteria that the judges evaluate are: growth of sales and profits, improving shareholder value, launch of significant new products and the creation of a new product pipeline. Finalists in 13 categories have been selected by a prestigious panel of judges and Scrip World Pharmaceutical News, a leading source of business news in the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Sucampo´s first product, AMITIZA, a Scrip Awards 2006 finalist for Best New Small Molecule, received marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Chronic Idiopathic Constipation (CIC) in adults during January 2006. In April 2008, AMITIZA was approved by the FDA for a second indication, Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS–C) in women over the age of 18 years. In February 2008, Sucampo Pharma Europe, Ltd., headquartered in Oxford, United Kingdom, with a branch office in Basel, Switzerland, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., filed marketing authorization applications (MAA) within the European Union for AMITIZA® (lubiprostone) for the indication of CIC. The applications were submitted to the United Kingdom as the reference member state and the concerned member states of Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden. A separate MAA was filed in Switzerland in June 2008. The MAA filings reflect Sucampo Pharmaceuticals´ efforts to expand AMITIZA to European markets. AMITIZA has experienced steady growth in sales during the period reviewed by the judges. Two other prostone–based compounds are in clinical development and six other prostone–based compounds are in pre–clinical development. In August 2007, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals successfully transitioned from a private to a publicly–held company when it completed its initial public offering and its shares were listed on the NASDAQ stock market under the trading symbol SCMP.
About Sucampo Pharmaceuticals
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company based in Bethesda, Maryland, focuses on the development and commercialization of medicines based on prostones. The therapeutic potential of prostones, which are bio–lipids that occur naturally in the human body, was first identified by Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Sucampo Pharmaceuticals´ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Ueno founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals in 1996 with Sachiko Kuno, Ph.D., founding Chief Executive Officer and currently Advisor, International Business Development.
Sucampo Pharmaceuticals markets AMITIZA (lubiprostone) 24 mcg in the U.S. for Chronic Idiopathic Constipation in adults and AMITIZA 8 mcg in the U.S. to treat Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation in adult women. Sucampo is also developing the drug for additional gastrointestinal disorders with large potential markets. In addition, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals has a robust pipeline of compounds with the potential to target underserved diseases affecting millions of patients worldwide. Sucampo Pharmaceuticals has two wholly owned subsidiaries: Sucampo Pharma Europe, Ltd., headquartered in Oxford, U.K., with a branch office in Basel, Switzerland, and Sucampo Pharma, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo with additional offices in Osaka, Japan. To learn more about Sucampo Pharmaceuticals and its products, visit www.sucampo.com.
AMITIZA® is a registered trademark of Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Forward–Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Sucampo Pharmaceuticals are forward–looking statements made under the provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward–looking statements may be identified by the words "project," "believe," "anticipate," "plan," "expect," "estimate," "intend," "should," "would," "could," "will," "may" or other similar expressions. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward–looking statements as a result of various important factors described in Sucampo Pharmaceuticals´ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the annual report on Form 10–K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other periodic reports filed with the SEC. Any forward–looking statements in this press release represent Sucampo Pharmaceuticals´ views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Sucampo Pharmaceuticals anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views to change. However, while Sucampo Pharmaceuticals may elect to update these forward–looking statements publicly at some point in the future, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
