Laurence Downey
Stephen Hill
MARIETTA, Ga., January 30, 2008 – Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that President and CEO Laurence J. Downey, M.D., has elected to retire from the company, effective April 30, 2008 and that it has appointed Stephen A. Hill, B.M. B.Ch., M.A., F.R.C.S, as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Hill will join Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. on April 1, 2008.
Downey retires from Solvay Pharmaceuticals after nearly 30 years of service with the company. He first joined Solvay Healthcare, Ltd. in Southampton, United Kingdom, in 1979 as a Medical Advisor and in 1986, moved to Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in Marietta, Ga. where he initially served as Vice President, Medical Services. Downey subsequently held positions as Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations and interim President and CEO. He later served as President and CEO of Solvay Pharma, Inc. in Canada prior to rejoining Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in the U.S. as President and CEO in 2006.
“Laurie’s consistently strong leadership has helped grow our business in North America and his contributions to our organization will be long-lasting,” said Werner Cautreels, Ph.D., Global CEO of Solvay Pharmaceuticals, S.A. “During his tenure as President and CEO of our U.S. organization, the company has achieved record results including breaking the billion dollar sales mark for the first time and impressive growth in its major brands. We thank him for nearly three decades of dedicated service and wish him the best as he moves on to the next chapter in his life.”
Hill will lead the company’s U.S. leadership team and serve as a member of the corporation’s board of directors; CEO and chairman of the board of wholly-owned subsidiary Unimed Pharmaceuticals, LLC and president of wholly-owned subsidiary Organics, LLC.
“I’m absolutely delighted Stephen has accepted our offer to join Solvay Pharmaceuticals. We have worked together in the past and I’m convinced Stephen’s leadership qualities and broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry will be a valuable asset to our organization,” said Cautreels.
Prior to his appointment at Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Hill served as President and CEO of biotechnology firm ArQule, Inc. since 1999. Before joining ArQule, Hill was the Head of Global Drug Development at F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. from 1997-1999. He joined Roche in 1989 as Medical Adviser to Roche Products in the United Kingdom and held several senior positions there that included U.K. Medical Director and Head of International Drug Regulatory Affairs at Roche headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Hill is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and holds his scientific and medical degrees from St. Catherine’s College at Oxford University.
About Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Marietta, Georgia is the U.S. subsidiary of Solvay Pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit www.solvaypharmaceuticals-us.com.
Solvay Pharmaceuticals is a research driven group of companies that constitute the global pharmaceutical business of the Solvay Group. The company seeks to fulfill carefully selected, unmet medical needs in the therapeutic areas of neuroscience, cardio-metabolic, influenza vaccines, gastroenterology, and men’s and women’s health. Its 2006 sales were EUR 2.6 billion and it employs approximately 10000 people worldwide. For more information, visit solvaypharmaceuticals.com.
SOLVAY is an international chemical and pharmaceutical Group with headquarters in Brussels. It employs some 29,000 people in 50 countries. In 2006, its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 9.4 billion, generated by its three sectors of activity: Chemicals, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals. Solvay (NYSE Euronext: SOLB.BE – Bloomberg: SOLB.BB – Reuters: SOLBt.BR) is listed on the NYSE Euronext stock exchange in Brussels. Details are available at www.solvay.com