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March 31, 2008
PR Newswire -- March 31, 2008
SAN DIEGO, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Amira Pharmaceuticals, a small
molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of compounds to treat inflammatory disease, today announced the
appointment of two additional members to its board of directors: Dennis
M. Fenton, Ph.D. and Stephen W. Kaldor, Ph.D.
Dr. Fenton has 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience,
including over two decades at Amgen where he played an instrumental role
in the development of the company into a global, fully-integrated,
multi-billion dollar organization. Fenton's broad background includes
executive leadership roles in manufacturing, process development, sales
and marketing, operations and quality control. His most recent role at
Amgen was as Executive Vice President of Operations.
Fenton holds a B.S. in Biology from Manhattan College and a Ph.D. in
Microbiology from Rutgers University.
"Dennis is a biotechnology pioneer," said chief executive officer, Bob
Baltera. "His experience and insight from his years at Amgen will be
extremely useful for Amira as we plan our future. In addition to Dennis,
we are also very pleased that Steve Kaldor will join our board of
directors. Steve's experience in successful start-up companies further
deepens our pool of experience and knowledge and I'm sure he will serve
as a great partner for us."
Dr. Kaldor is currently president and chief executive officer of Ambrx,
a private biotechnology company focused on the development of
next-generation, protein-based medicines. Prior to joining Ambrx, Kaldor
served as president and chief scientific officer of Syrrx, a
structure-based drug discovery company, which he led through its $270
million acquisition by Takeda in 2005. He also spent over twelve years
in various research and development roles at Eli Lilly and is a
co-inventor of Viracept(R), a marketed AIDS drug.
Kaldor holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in
Organic Chemistry from Harvard University.
About Amira
Founded in 2005 and headquartered in San Diego, Amira Pharmaceuticals is
a small molecule pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and
early development of compounds to treat inflammatory disease.
The company combines the rigor of a big pharmaceutical company with the
ingenuity and energy of a small company, creating an environment for
efficient and effective pre-clinical and clinical program decisions. Its
scientific founders have successfully worked together for more than a
decade and were pivotal in the discovery of a number of inflammatory
drugs, including Singulair(R). The drug hunters at Amira are now
actively leveraging their history of success to create high-value
compounds for the future.
In February 2008, Amira Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline entered a
global agreement for Amira's FLAP inhibitor program. The deal follows
positive phase 1 data from novel product candidate AM103 for the oral
treatment of respiratory disease.
Amira has raised $40 million to date from investors including Novo A/S
(Copenhagen, Denmark), Avalon Ventures (San Diego, CA), Prospect
Ventures (Palo Alto, CA) and Versant Ventures (Menlo Park, CA). For more
information, visit http://www.amirapharm.com.
SOURCE Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
-0- 03/31/2008
CONTACT: Europe, Julie Walters, +44 (0) 20 7016 7714, Mobile,
+44 (0) 775 3626967, julie.walters@tudor-reilly.com, or US, Michele
Parisi,
+1-925-429-1850, Mobile, +1-925-864-5028,
michele.parisi@tudor-reilly.com,
both of Tudor Reilly, for Amira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
###
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