Ascendis Pharma A/S Will Appoint Jesper Høiland as Global Chief Commercial Officer

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ascendis Pharma A/S (Nasdaq: ASND), a biopharmaceutical company that utilizes its innovative TransCon technologies to address unmet medical needs, today announced that the company will appoint Jesper Høiland as Global Chief Commercial Officer upon completion of his transition from Radius Health, Inc.

"The addition of Jesper to the senior leadership team at Ascendis Pharma is a key next step in our preparation for the global launch of our endocrinology rare disease portfolio and our strategy to establish Ascendis as a leading global biopharma company," commented Jan Mikkelsen, Ascendis Pharma’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Jesper’s broad background of decades in the biopharmaceutical industry includes over 20 years of commercial experience in growth hormone, during which he helped to establish Novo Nordisk’s daily growth hormone as the leading brand both in the United States and globally.”

Mr. Høiland commented, “I am thrilled to join Ascendis at this critical juncture as we approach the potential global launch of the company’s first endocrinology rare disease products. My passion is launching, establishing and maintaining leading global brands and I look forward to achieving that for each of Ascendis Pharma’s endocrinology rare disease product candidates.”

Mr. Høiland most recently served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Radius Health until May 2020, where he led Tymlos to a market leadership position in three years as a treatment for osteoporosis. He has over 25 years of senior leadership experience in operations, commercialization and global marketing and has launched five products to market leadership positions in endocrinology and hematology. Mr. Høiland’s extensive experience establishing global leadership of endocrinology products began with the first launch of Novo Nordisk’s daily growth hormone in 1988. Prior to joining Radius, Mr. Høiland served as President of Novo Nordisk USA overseeing approximately 5,300 employees. Under his leadership, Novo Nordisk solidified its market leadership in diabetes and also significantly grew its hemophilia and growth hormone franchises. Before serving as President of Novo Nordisk USA, Mr. Høiland held multiple global roles of increasing responsibility at Novo Nordisk, including leading its International Operations which spanned approximately 150 countries.