Trevena Appoints Yacoub Habib as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Planning

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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Trevena, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRVN), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of biased ligands targeting G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), today announced the appointment of Yacoub Habib, Ph.D., M.B.A., as senior vice president, business development and corporate planning. Dr. Habib will lead the company’s partnering and licensing initiatives.

“Yacoub is a highly experienced pharmaceutical executive, and his proven success in spearheading business development strategy as well as negotiating and executing transactions throughout the world will be invaluable as we seek to maximize the value of our biased ligand platform,” said Maxine Gowen, Ph.D., chief executive officer. “I look forward to working with Yacoub to position the company for continued growth as our pipeline matures.”

“Trevena has been extremely productive in generating multiple product candidates that address significant market opportunities in pain, cardiovascular disease and migraine indications,” stated Dr. Habib. “I am excited about the opportunity to identify and secure alliances that align with the company’s business objectives and unlock the full potential of Trevena’s unique product platform.”

Dr. Habib joins Trevena from Ikaria, Inc. where he served as vice president of business development and led the business development strategy for the company until its acquisition. From 2007 to 2009, he served as executive director of new business development for Pfizer and participated in the creation of new business development strategies in areas outside of Pfizer’s core competency markets. Before joining Pfizer, Dr. Habib was executive director of global business development for Organon Pharmaceuticals, a division of Akzo Nobel, where he was responsible for the identification, evaluation and negotiation of in-licensing, out-licensing and divestiture opportunities in neuroscience, fertility, and women's health. He started his career at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he spent nine years in various research, corporate, and business development roles including as director of corporate and business development. Dr. Habib holds a Ph.D. in pharmaceutical sciences from the University of Maryland and an M.B.A. with a major in finance and marketing from New York University Stern School of Business.

About Trevena

Trevena, Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and intends to commercialize therapeutics that use a novel approach to target G protein coupled receptors, or GPCRs. Using its proprietary product platform, Trevena is developing four biased ligand product candidates it has identified - TRV027 to treat acute heart failure (Phase 2b), TRV130 to treat moderate to severe acute pain intravenously (Phase 2b), TRV734 to treat moderate to severe acute and chronic pain orally (Phase 1), and TRV250 for treatment-refractory migraine and other CNS disorders (preclinical).

Cautionary Note on Forward Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including statements about the company’s strategy, future operations, clinical development of its therapeutic candidates, plans for potential future product candidates and other statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “suggest,” “target,” “potential,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “continue,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the status, timing, costs, results and interpretation of the company’s clinical trials; the uncertainties inherent in conducting clinical trials; whether interim results from a clinical trial will be predictive of the final results of the trial or results of pre-clinical testing or early clinical trials will be indicative of the results of future trials; expectations for regulatory approvals; availability of funding sufficient for the company’s foreseeable and unforeseeable operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements; other matters that could affect the viability or commercial potential of the company’s therapeutic candidates; the inherent uncertainties associated with intellectual property; and other factors discussed in the Risk Factors set forth in the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other filings the company makes with the SEC from time to time. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the company’s views only as of the date hereof. The company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the company’s views to change. However, while the company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as may be required by law.

Investor Contacts
Trevena, Inc.
Jonathan Violin
Director of investor relations
610-354-8840 x231
jviolin@trevenainc.com
or
Argot Partners
Andrea Rabney
President and chief executive officer
212-600-1902
andrea@argotpartners.com
or
Media Contact:
Argot Partners
Eliza Schleifstein
917-763-8106
eliza@argotpartners.com

Source: Trevena, Inc.

Released July 20, 2015