BURLINGTON, Mass., Sept. 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flexion Therapeutics, Inc.(Nasdaq:FLXN) announced today that it has appointed John Magee as Vice President of Sales, the latest of several key appointments to the company’s leadership team.

Mr. Magee has more than 35 years of experience as a sales professional. Prior to joining Flexion, he was head of U.S. sales for the rare disease unit of Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he also served as U.S. sales director for its renal business. Previously, he held senior sales positions at Esprit Pharma and Bayer Corporation. He has a Bachelor’s degree in biology and anthropology from Hamilton College, and completed MBA courses at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Mr. Magee joins Flexion as the company prepares to submit a planned new drug application (NDA) in the fourth quarter of 2016 to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its drug candidate Zilretta™ (also known as FX006), a potential treatment for patients with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis (OA) pain.

Michael Clayman, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Flexion, stated, “John is another excellent addition to the Flexion team as we continue planning for Zilretta’s commercial launch. During his time in the rare disease unit of Shire, he helped to achieve revenue growth of more than $1 billion. John’s experience in successfully recruiting and managing pharmaceutical sales organizations will play a key role for us as we prepare for the potential launch and commercialization of our new investigational treatment in the marketplace in 2017.”

About Flexion Therapeutics

Flexion is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, local therapies for the treatment of patients with musculoskeletal conditions, beginning with OA. The company's lead product candidate, Zilretta, is being investigated for its potential to provide improved analgesic therapy for the millions of U.S. patients who receive intra-articular (IA) injections for knee OA annually.