Healthcare Industry News: KLEAN
News Release - July 11, 2006
James L. Freddo, M.D., Joins Anadys Pharmaceuticals as Chief Medical Officer
Former Vice President of Development at PfizerSAN DIEGO, July 11 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANDS ) announced today the appointment of James L. Freddo, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer. In this position, Dr. Freddo will lead clinical operations for the Company's clinical programs, including ANA975, ANA380 and ANA773. He will also serve as a member of the Anadys-Novartis Joint Steering Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the development of ANA975 for the treatment of hepatitis C and hepatitis B viral infections.
"I am delighted to have someone of Jim Freddo's stature and experience join Anadys," said KLEANthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., Anadys' President and CEO. "He will strengthen our outstanding management team and enhance our clinical operations expertise."
"I am very pleased that Dr. Freddo is joining the Anadys team," said Steve Worland, Ph.D., Anadys' President, Pharmaceuticals. "Jim's medical training and bedside practice, coupled with his exceptional clinical development experience in the pharmaceutical industry, are exemplified by the key role he played in the development of Sutent® while at Pfizer. In addition, his expertise in oncology, infectious diseases and immunology will be extremely valuable to Anadys as we work to advance our product candidates from early- and mid-stage clinical development to late-stage clinical development."
Dr. Freddo joins Anadys from Pfizer. Since August 2005, he was Vice President, Clinical Site Head and Development Site Head, Pfizer Global Research and Development, La Jolla. Previously at Pfizer, he was Executive Director, Site Therapeutic Area Leader, Clinical Development, Oncology. While at Pfizer, Dr. Freddo led the team responsible for the registration of Sutent® (sunitinib malate), a drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in January 2006 for treating advanced kidney cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. Prior to Pfizer, Dr. Freddo held a variety of senior management positions at Wyeth-Ayerst Research from December 1996 until June 2002, including Senior Director, Oncology, Senior Director, Infectious Diseases, and Senior Director, Transplantation Immunology. He holds a B.S. degree in Medical Technology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, and a M.D. degree from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, where he also completed his fellowship training.
Dr. Freddo will report to Dr. Worland.
Inducement Stock Option Grant
On July 10, 2006, the Compensation Committee of the Company's Board of Directors approved an inducement grant to Dr. Freddo of a non-qualified stock option to purchase 200,000 shares of Anadys' Common Stock. This option award was granted without stockholder approval pursuant to NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350(i)(1)(A)(iv) and with the following material terms: an exercise price of $3.00, which is equal to the fair market value of Anadys' common stock on the grant date (as determined by the closing price on the prior trading day), a term of 10 years, and a vesting schedule providing that 1/4th of the shares will vest on the one year anniversary of the grant date and 1/48th of the total shares will vest monthly thereafter over the next three years. Although this option was granted outside the Company's 2004 Equity Incentive Plan, it is subject to substantially identical terms and conditions as those contained in the Company's 2004 Equity Incentive Plan.
About Anadys
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., www.anadyspharma.com, is a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing patient care by discovering, developing and commercializing novel small molecule medicines for the treatment of hepatitis, other serious infections, and cancer. The Company has core expertise in Toll-Like Receptor-based small molecule therapeutics and structure-based drug design coupled with medicinal chemistry. Anadys' clinical development programs include ANA975 for the treatment of HCV and HBV, and ANA380 for the treatment of HBV. In addition, Anadys' therapeutic platform is designed to advance a strong and continual pipeline of drug candidates into the clinic.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, references to the status of Anadys' ANA975, ANA773 and ANA380 programs, the future development of ANA975 for the treatment of hepatitis C and hepatitis B viral infections, the expected impact that Dr. Freddo will have on the Company's clinical operations and Anadys' objective to advance its product candidates from early- and mid-stage clinical development to late-stage clinical development. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause Anadys' actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, the results of initial clinical trials may not be predictive of future results, and Anadys cannot provide any assurances that any of its product candidates will not have unforeseen safety issues, will have favorable results in future clinical trials or will receive regulatory approval. In addition, Anadys' results may be affected by risks related to its collaborative relationships with Novartis and LGLS, competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, its effectiveness at managing its financial resources, its ability to successfully develop and market products, the level of effort that its collaborative partners devote to development and commercialization of its product candidates, difficulties or delays in its pre-clinical studies or clinical trials, difficulties or delays in manufacturing its clinical trials materials, the scope and validity of patent protection for its products, regulatory developments involving future products and its ability to obtain additional funding to support its operations. These and other factors that may cause actual results to differ are more fully discussed in Anadys' SEC filings, including the "Risk Factors" section of Anadys' Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2006. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Anadys is providing this information as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Source: Anadys Pharmaceuticals
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