Solasia Pharma KK announced a change in its executive leadership team. Yoshihiro Arai, currently General Manager and Head of Development of Solasia Pharma K.K., has been promoted to President and Representative Director of the company. Current Chief Executive Officer Steve Engen has announced his departure to pursue a new career opportunity. Mr. Arai joined Solasia Pharma K.K. in September 2007 with responsibility for all product development including clinical development and regulatory affairs. In order to progress clinical development in China, the company has established operations in Beijing and has hired core development and regulatory affairs staff. Furthermore, Ms. Vivian Zhang has joined the company as Solasia China General Manager and will be based in Shanghai. Vivian will build the Solasia China sales and marketing team, and prepare Sancuso(R) for China commercialization. Vivian joins Solasia after a career in marketing and sales at Shanghai Roche where she was responsible for Avastin(R) and Tarceva(R), two key oncology products for Roche in China.

The company also announced receipt of the Clinical Trial Permit (CTP) from the China SFDA for SP-01 (brand name: Sancuso(R)), the company's product for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Having received the CTP, the company said it is now preparing to initiate the required pivotal studies, and expects to file a New Drug Application (NDA) in China in the fourth quarter of 2013.