Healthcare Industry News: Vertex Pharmaceuticals
News Release - January 11, 2006
ActivBiotics and Metaphore Complete Merger Creating Late-Stage Company Addressing Serious Infections and Inflammation
LEXINGTON, Mass., Jan. 11 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- ActivBiotics, Inc. and Metaphore Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that stockholder approval of the previously announced merger has been received and the merger is now complete. The merger, first announced in early December 2005, creates a late-stage company with two clinical stage compounds and a robust pipeline of preclinical candidates. In connection with the transaction, ActivBiotics has issued, and Metaphore stockholders have received, shares of ActivBiotics stock and Metaphore will become a wholly owned subsidiary of ActivBiotics.Alan W. Dunton, M.D., (Chairman of the Board). Former President and CEO, Metaphore Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Constantine E. Anagnostopoulos, Ph.D., retired officer of Monsanto, former managing partner of Gateway Associates
Jerry Benjamin, General Partner, Advent Venture Partners
Joshua Boger, Ph.D., President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Gerry Brunk, Venture Partner, MDS Capital
Jeff Courtney, General Partner, VenGrowth Capital Partners
Richard U. DeSchutter, Former Chairman and CEO of DuPont Pharmaceuticals, senior executive at G.D. Searle, Monsanto, Pharmacia
Walter Gilbert, Ph.D., General Partner, BioVentures LLC, Nobel Laureate
Steven C. Gilman, Ph.D., President & CEO, ActivBiotics, Inc.
Michael Hanson, Founding Partner, Barnard Life Sciences, LLC, and former senior executive with at Eli Lilly and Company.
John Littlechild, General Partner, HealthCare Ventures LLC
As previously announced, the ActivBiotics management team, headed by Steven Gilman, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will continue to run the combined company out of its headquarters in Lexington, MA.
About ActivBiotics
ActivBiotics, Inc. is a private biopharmaceutical company located in Lexington, MA, focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of breakthrough antibacterials for high-value chronic and infectious disease markets. The Company's lead product candidate, rifalazil, is being studied in a pivotal study in patients with intermittent claudication, a manifestation of lower extremity arterial disease. The Company's lead pre-clinical compound in its pipeline of novel rifamycins, ABI-0043, shows significant potential for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). For more information, please visit http://www.activbiotics.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements based on information available to ActivBiotics and Metaphore as of the date hereof. In some cases, you can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Actual results could differ materially from the results stated or implied by such forward- looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, general economic and business conditions, changes in governmental laws and regulations relating to the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products, and competition in the pharmaceutical industry. ActivBiotics and Metaphore disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Source: ActivBiotics
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