Healthcare >> CEO Interviews >> October 17, 2003

Roger Newton – Esperion Therapeutics Inc (espr)

ROGER S. NEWTON is President and Chief Executive Officer of Esperion Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company founded in July 1998 and located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Esperion is dedicated to the discovery and development of pharmaceutical products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease through the use of a treatment approach called HDL Therapy. Dr. Newton's research interests over the past 30 years have focused on the nutritional and pharmacological regulation of cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism as they relate to atherosclerosis and vascular diseases. During his tenure at Parke-Davis from 1981 to 1998, Dr. Newton was Chairman of the Atherosclerosis Drug Discovery Team, during which time he co-discovered and was the product champion of what is now the most prescribed cholesterol reducing drug in the United States, atorvastatin (Lipitor). Dr. Newton is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan Medical School and is a member of the American Heart Association's Council on Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. He has co-authored nearly 100 peer-reviewed articles and chapters during his research career. Profile
TWST: Would you give us a brief historical sketch of Esperion

Therapeutics and an overview of what the company is doing at the present

time?

Dr. Newton: Esperion Therapeutics is a