Directorate Change

 

TIDMGWP 
 
RNS Number : 9558P 
GW Pharmaceuticals PLC 
26 July 2010 
 

                GW APPOINTS TOM LYNCH AS NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 
 
 
Porton Down, UK, 27 July 2010: GW Pharmaceuticals plc (AIM: GWP) today announces 
the appointment of Tom Lynch as a non-executive director with immediate effect. 
 
Tom replaces Hans Schram who is formally retiring as a non-executive director 
with immediate effect. 
 
The retirement of Hans was initially announced at the time of this year's Annual 
General Meeting. At that time, Hans stated that, having served as a 
non-executive of GW for the last 7 years, he would wish to retire from the GW 
Board once Sativex UK approval had been achieved, in order to focus upon his 
role as Chief Executive of Nordic Pharma. 
 
Tom will sit on the Remuneration Committee as well as the Audit Committee, of 
which he will take over from James Noble as Chairman. James has agreed to become 
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, of which Hans Schram was the previous 
Chair. 
 
Dr Geoffrey Guy, Chairman, said, "We are very pleased to welcome Tom as a 
non-executive director. Tom has been a prominent member of the European biotech 
sector for many years and is one of a small select number of European executives 
to have direct experience in managing the transformation of a development stage 
biotech company into a prominent commercial-stage pharmaceutical business. As GW 
seeks to build on the recent approval and launch of Sativex, we believe Tom's 
experience will be invaluable to the GW Board in the years ahead. 
 
"I should also like to take this opportunity to thank Hans Schram, who retires 
today as a non-executive director. Over the last seven years, Hans' extensive 
experience of the international pharmaceutical industry has provided valuable 
advice, guidance and support to the Board and we are all most grateful to him 
for his important contribution to the company." 
 
Thomas Gerard Lynch, aged 53, most recently served as Chairman (from 2000) and 
Chief Executive Officer (from December 2007) of Amarin Corporation plc, a NASDAQ 
listed biotechnology company specializing in cardiovascular disease, until 
December 2009. He continues to serve as a non-executive director of Amarin. Tom 
became CEO of Amarin following the failure of its major CNS research programme 
in 2007. Between 2007 and 2009, Tom executed a turnaround from CNS to 
cardiovascular research and raised $100 million for the company. 
 
From 1993 to 2004, Tom worked in a variety of capacities in Elan Corporation 
plc. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Chief Financial Officer and Executive 
Vice-President; from 2001 to 2002 as Vice-Chairman; and from 2002 to 2004 as a 
senior adviser. Tom led Elan's transformation from a drug delivery company to a 
biotechnology company through a series of corporate and product acquisitions and 
joint ventures from 1996 to 1999, including the acquisition of Athena 
Neurosciences Inc. in March 1996 which gave Elan leading discovery research into 
Alzheimer's disease and auto-immune diseases. 
 
In 1994, Tom founded a company which became Warner Chilcott, plc (having 
negotiated and financed the acquisition of the Warner Chilcott division from the 
Warner-Lambert Company in 1996). Tom was a board member of that company from 
1994 through 1999 and from then until 2002 as a director of Galen plc, which 
acquired Warner Chilcott in 1999. 
 
Tom currently serves as a director of the IDA Ireland (an agency of the Irish 
government responsible for inward investment); senior independent director of 
ICON plc, (a clinical research company); Profectus BioSciences Inc., (a company 
conducting research into immunological diseases); and is Chairman of Chronetech 
AB (a Swedish company conducting research in infectious diseases). 
 
In addition to his other directorships, Tom has a large number of non-corporate 
interests. He was appointed to the Board of the Royal Opera House in 2001 and 
serves as a member of its Finance and Audit Committee and is a trustee of the 
Royal Opera House Foundation. Tom is also chairman of Opera Ireland, the 
National Opera Company of Ireland. Since 2000, Tom has served as a board member 
of the Queen's University of Belfast Foundation and from 2004 as its chairman. 
In September 2007, Tom was elected inaugural chairman of Dublin Academic Medical 
Centre, one of the first academic medical research centres established in 
Ireland. In 2006, Tom became a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute of 
Human Virology, an institute of the University of Maryland. Between 2006 and 
2008 Tom chaired the Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health and Tom was a 
governor of the Royal Ballet School until 2009. Tom continues to be a governor 
of the Royal Ballet companies. 
 
In 2009, Tom was appointed by the Irish Minister for Health as a member of the 
Expert Group on Resource Allocation within Health and Personal Social Services 
in Ireland and serves as a member of its sub-committee dealing with the 
financing of Ireland's acute hospitals. In 2010, Tom was appointed by the Irish 
Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism to serve on the Board of the Irish 
National Opera Company. 
 
From 1980 to 1993, Tom worked in the international accounting firm of KPMG, 
including three years as a partner in that firm from 1990 to 1993. He is a 
graduate in Economics from Queen's University, Belfast and a fellow of the 
Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. 
 
Enquiries: 
 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| GW Pharmaceuticals plc               |    (Today) + 44 20 7831 | 
|                                      |                    3113 | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Dr Geoffrey Guy, Executive Chairman  |  (Thereafter) + 44 1980 | 
|                                      |                  557000 | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Justin Gover, Managing Director      |                         | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
|                                      |                         | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Financial Dynamics                   |       + 44 20 7831 3113 | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Ben Atwell / John Dineen             |                         | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
|                                      |                         | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Piper Jaffray Ltd                    |     [phone] | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
| Neil Mackison / Rupert Winckler      |                         | 
+--------------------------------------+-------------------------+ 
 
 
About GW Pharmaceuticals 
 
GW was founded in 1998 and is listed on the AiM, a market of the London Stock 
Exchange.  Operating under licence from the UK Home Office, the company 
researches and develops cannabinoid pharmaceutical products for patients who 
suffer from a range of serious ailments, in particular MS and cancer pain.  GW 
has assembled a large in-house scientific team with expertise in cannabinoid 
science as well as experience in the development of both plant based 
prescription pharmaceutical products and medicines containing controlled 
substances. GW occupies a world leading position in cannabinoids and has 
developed an extensive international network of the most prominent scientists in 
the field. 
 
For further information, please visit www.gwpharm.com 
 
 
 
 
This information is provided by RNS 
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange 
   END 
 
 BOABRGDRGGDBGGL