Message #22 From:
NewsBot Date: January 8, 2007 05:00:00 AM
PANC News Panacos Appoints Alan W. Dunton, M.D. as New CEO
WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Panacos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:PANC), a biotechnology company
dedicated to developing the next generation of antiviral therapeutic
products, today announced that Alan W. Dunton, M.D. has joined the
Company as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Dunton was also added to
Panacos' board of directors, bringing the total number of Panacos board
members to eight.
Dr. Dunton has over 23 years of experience in clinical research, drug
development, and the regulatory process, highlighted by leadership roles
in the development and approval of the prescription drugs Levaquin®,
TOPAMAX®, Reminyl®,
Regranex®, and Risperdal®,
as well as the successful OTC product Aleve®.
"Panacos is developing exciting and potentially important new classes of
oral HIV therapeutics in both maturation inhibition and fusion
inhibition," said Dr. Dunton. "I am very pleased to join the team at
Panacos and look forward to moving these programs forward, with the aim
of enhancing treatment options for HIV patients."
Dr. Dunton was President and CEO of Metaphore Pharmaceuticals from
January 2003 until its merger with ActivBiotics in December 2005, when
he became nonexecutive Chairman of ActivBiotics. Before joining
Metaphore, Dr. Dunton was President and Chief Operating Officer of
Emisphere Technologies, Inc.
From 1994 through 2001, Dr. Dunton held positions of increasing
responsibility at Johnson and Johnson, culminating in his position as
President and Managing Director of the Janssen Research Foundation. In
this capacity, he was responsible for the research and development of
new prescription drug products marketed by the Johnson & Johnson family
of companies worldwide and was a member of the Group Operating Committee
of the J&J Pharmaceutical Group. His prior experience included positions
with Roche, CIBA-GEIGY (now Novartis) and Syntex (now Roche). Dr. Dunton
also developed and implemented an Ethical Code for the Conduct of
Clinical Research and was a recipient of the prestigious Nellie
Westerman Prize from the American Federation of Clinical Research for
his work in medical ethics, specifically in the area of HIV research. In
addition to ActivBiotics, Dr. Dunton has served or is serving on the
board of directors of Vicuron, Targacept, Adams Respiratory
Therapeutics, Inc., MediciNova, Inc., and VWR International.
"Alan has an exceptional background in drug development, including
substantial anti-infective experience, which we believe positions him to
provide great leadership to an already strong management team,"
commented Jeremy Hayward-Surry, Panacos' Chairman. "His breadth of
medical, clinical, and research experience as well as his leadership
experience in small and large companies, are ideally suited to Panacos
as it works to advance bevirimat and its other HIV programs. We would
also like to thank Peyton Marshall for his leadership in taking on
additional responsibilities as Acting CEO during this transitional
period."
Dr. Dunton received his M.D. degree from New York University School of
Medicine and completed his post-graduate training in Internal Medicine
at the New York University Medical Center/Bellevue Hospital VA Medical
Center and in Clinical Pharmacology at Cornell University Medical
College/New York Hospital.
Alan Dunton will be joining Peyton Marshall and Graham Allaway, Ph.D.,
Panacos' President and COO in the Company's presentation at the JPMorgan
Healthcare Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, January 10 at 9:30
a.m. PST. A link to the webcast of Panacos' presentation will be
available for 30 days on the Company's web site at www.panacos.com.
About Panacos
Panacos is developing the next generation of anti-infective products
through discovery and development of small molecule oral drugs for the
treatment of HIV and other major human viral diseases. HIV infects
approximately 1.7 million people in North America and Western Europe and
approximately 40 million people worldwide. Approximately 650,000
patients are treated annually for HIV in the United States and Western
Europe. Resistance to currently available drugs is one of the most
pressing problems in HIV therapy and the leading cause of treatment
failure. Panacos' proprietary discovery technologies are designed to
combat resistance by focusing on novel targets in the virus life cycle,
including virus maturation and virus fusion.
Panacos' lead candidate, bevirimat (PA-457), is the first in a new class
of oral HIV therapeutics under development called maturation inhibitors,
discovered by Panacos scientists and their academic collaborators. Based
on its novel mechanism of action, bevirimat is designed to have potent
activity against a broad range of HIV, including strains that are
resistant to existing classes of drugs. The Company has completed seven
clinical studies of bevirimat in over 300 subjects, showing significant
reductions in viral load in HIV-infected subjects and a promising safety
profile, and is currently in Phase 2b clinical trials.
Except for the historical information contained herein, statements
made herein, including those relating to bevirimat's clinical
development and the potential results of treatment with bevirimat are
forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements involve risks as set forth in the Company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December
31, 2005. These risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to
differ materially from any forward-looking statements made herein. The
Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking
statements, whether because of new information, future events or
otherwise, except as required by applicable law.
