Zealand Pharma appoints new Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board to strengthen prospects for its pipeline activities

-- Internationally renowned scientific and clinical experts to advise and collaborate with Zealand Pharma

 Copenhagen, 14 November 2011 - Zealand Pharma (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: ZEAL), a Danish biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative peptide drugs, announces the appointment of a new Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board (the CSAB).  The CSAB comprises internationally renowned scientific and clinical advisors in the fields of diabetes and obesity, cardiology and gastroenterology to reflect the focus of Zealand Pharma's research and development activities. 

 The main objectives for the Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board are to:

• Provide a forum for the objective external evaluation of Zealand Pharma's applied scientific methods in peptide drug discovery and development as well as its preclinical and clinical pipelines. The CSAB will evaluate best practices within the company's R&D processes while also challenging the science and development strategy of key projects.
• Contribute cutting-edge scientific and clinical input tailored specifically to the therapeutic focus areas of Zealand Pharma: diabetes, metabolic and other related diseases, including cardiovascular and gastrointestinal.

 Dr.  Alain Munoz, a member of Zealand Pharma's Board of Directors and Dr. Christian Grøndahl, EVP and Chief Scientific Officer of Zealand Pharma will jointly chair the CSAB.  In addition to Dr. Munoz and Dr. Grøndahl, the inaugural members of the new advisory board are Dr. Bernard Charbonnel, Dr. Richard Pratley, Dr. Paul Dorian, Dr. Åke Lernmark and Dr. Gert Van Assche (biographies below).

 Dr.  Alain Munoz, Co-chairman of the CSAB, commented                                                                             

"Nothing is more valuable for Zealand's scientists than to have the results of their research scrutinized and challenged by a group of experienced and insightful independent experts tasked to evaluate the scientific rationale, the methodology, and the potential medical benefit for patients of specific projects. We believe that our new Clinical and Scientific Advisory Board will add substantial value to Zealand Pharma's R&D activities, helping to further leverage the company's strong peptide expertise towards the sustained development of next generation biologic drug candidates."  

 Dr. Richard Pratley

Dr. Richard Pratley is an internationally recognized diabetes and obesity expert currently based in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Pratley is the Medical Director of the Florida Hospital Diabetes Institute, the largest endocrine practice in central Florida, and Senior Faculty at the hospital's Sanford-Burnham Translational Research Institute for Metabolism and Diabetes. He is also a professor at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute at Lake Nona.

Dr. Pratley's current research interests include diabetes prevention and care improvement; drug research, innovation and development within the diabetes field; and understanding the role of the fat cell in potentiating diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk. Within these areas, Dr. Pratley has led a many large-scale investigations, including NIH- and pharmaceutical company-sponsored studies, about which he has published extensively.

Dr. Pratley graduated from Wayne State University School of Medicine, and is a member of the American Diabetes Association, the European Associations for the Study of Diabetes and The Obesity Society. He is a recipient of the Henry Christian Award for Excellence in Clinical Research from the American Federation for Clinical Research Foundation.