Sector News

Endo International plc today announced that Brian Lortie, President, U.S. Branded Pharmaceuticals, has decided to step down from his position upon the appointment of a successor.

Mr. Lortie joined Endo in 2009 and led its U.S. Pharmaceuticals business with responsibility for all strategic, commercial and operational functions, including sales and marketing, strategy and portfolio development, commercial operations, managed markets, manufacturing, supply chain and quality. Endo has initiated a search with a leading executive recruitment firm to identify a successor for Mr. Lortie, who has agreed to remain with the Company until his replacement is hired.

“I would like to thank Brian for his important contributions to Endo. He led the U.S. Branded business through a time of great transformation – from a franchise largely focused on a small number of legacy pain products to a diversified business with growth drivers across multiple therapeutic areas including pain, specialty, orthopedics and urology,” said Rajiv De Silva, President and CEO of Endo. “While we will miss Brian and his contributions, we will continue to build our U.S. Branded business as Endo focuses on accelerating key growth drivers including XIAFLEX® and BELBUCA™. I would especially like to thank Brian for agreeing to remain in his position through the transition phase. We wish him continued success in his future endeavors.”

Under Mr. Lortie’s guidance, Endo’s U.S. Branded business achieved many significant milestones, including:

• The restructuring of the core U.S. Branded business to mitigate the impact of Lidoderm® loss of exclusivity;
• The strengthening of the Commercial Operations function to support the growth of Endo’s U.S. Branded business going forward;
• The successful acquisition of Auxilium, which added XIAFLEX® and its related pipeline to Endo’s U.S. Branded portfolio;
• The in-licensing and regulatory approval of BELBUCA™ and the subsequent launch of this differentiated product; and
• The successful extension of the VOLTAREN® Gel licensing agreement, including securing Endo’s rights to an Authorized Generic.

“It has been a pleasure to have been a part of Endo over what have been truly transformational years for the Company and during a time of great change for the U.S. Branded business,” said Mr. Lortie. “I am proud of what we have achieved and now, will work with Rajiv and the Endo team to transition the U.S. Branded business to new leadership and position it for its next phase of growth.”

Source: Endo International plc