Steven Damon Joins Altea Therapeutics

Life Science Partner places drug delivery executive to guide business development

Life Science Partner announced the placement of Steven Damon as vice president, business development at Altea Therapeutics. Hired August 22, 2005, Damon will be responsible for leading activities in product licensing, product pipeline analysis and assessment of competitive products and technologies.  In particular, he will be responsible for evaluating and concluding agreements for development, manufacturing and marketing of Altea’s products.

“Damon’s knowledge of the drug delivery space, coupled with his repeated success in cultivating strong and productive relationships with potential partners and closing the deal, prepares him well for this key position,” says Cynthia B. Roberts, vice president at Life Science Partner.

As a senior business development executive with DURECT Corporation, Damon was highly successful in assessing market potential, providing due diligence, and term sheet and contract negotiation.  In addition, he handled all market research and market conditioning activities related to the DURECT product pipeline including opinion leader relationships, interviews with patients and physicians, conferences, presentations, pricing and reimbursement planning and product concept planning.  During his tenure, he was also the chairman and president of Absorbable Polymers International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of DURECT. Damon joined the Company as a director of market development responsible for preparing the market for Chronogesic from a commercial development perspective which culminated in a significant deal with Endo Pharmaceuticals.

Previously, Damon spent 13 years with Kimberly Clark proving his versatility in a range of positions. His most recent role as director of mergers and acquisitions for Professional Health Care allowed him to work on two significant medical device acquisitions: Ballard Medical and Safeskin.

Damon spent his early career in the sales and marketing function at Kimberly Clark, starting in Roswell, GA as a sales representative and moving through positions in corporate and district sales before accepting a role as business development manager for Europe based in Düsseldorf.  He was promoted to director of sales for Europe based in London before returning to the US in 1999 in the mergers and acquisitions role.