April 20‚ 2005
ANTHERA PHARMACEUTICALS LAUNCHES WITH A PROVEN LEADERSHIP TEAM AND SIGNIFICANT SERIES A FUNDING
– CEO Follows Up Success at Peninsula Pharmaceuticals by Taking on New Therapeutic Area –
San Francisco‚ CA – April 20‚ 2005 – Anthera Pharmaceuticals‚ Inc‚ a private start–up pharmaceutical company specializing in serious respiratory and inflammatory diseases‚ today announced it has completed its Series A Preferred financing and is moving forward under a proven leadership team. The new company will be lead by Paul Truex in the role of President and Chief Executive Officer‚ who has extensive experience building successful companies‚ most recently Peninsula Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Truex has already enlisted a highly capable team to serve with him on the Board of Directors‚ including Lowell E. Sears of Sears Capital Management‚ who will lead the board as Chairman.
“Paul was the driving force behind the success of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals‚ which recently announced an agreement to be acquired by the Ortho–McNeil Pharmaceuticals division of Johnson & Johnson‚ and his leadership built the company from its inception‚” said Mr. Sears. “I am very excited to back the creation of a new company around Paul’s capabilities and demonstrated accomplishment in executing an in–licensing strategy to build a specialty pharmaceutical company.”
“Our first funding efforts met our goals and we are gratified by the confidence that our initial investors have shown in our vision. Our strategy to in–license compounds presents a great opportunity to jump start the development process with a viable product‚” said Paul F. Truex‚ President and Chief Executive Officer. “Anthera will seek to bring products to market in areas that have the capacity for new compounds and better therapeutic options‚ including cystic fibrosis‚ COPD‚ asthma and acute lung injury. We are already negotiating multiple product opportunities and hope to be able to announce the acquisition of one or more of these in the near future.”
About Paul F. Truex‚ President and CEO
Prior to founding Anthera‚ Mr. Truex served as a Director‚ President and CEO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals from
the time that company commenced operations in October 2001 until recently when he left to found Anthera. During
that time‚ Mr. Truex raised over $81 million of institutional capital (including $21million from a key strategic
partner) and led the acquisition of both of Peninsula's product agreements with Shionogi & Co.‚ Ltd. and Takeda
Chemical Industries. Mr. Truex successfully grew Peninsula into a world–class pharmaceutical development company
focusing on infectious diseases. The $245 million cash–for–stock acquisition of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals by
Ortho–McNeil Pharmaceuticals was the successful conclusion to his stewardship of that company. Mr. Truex has
extensive experience in sales‚ marketing and business development in several industries including pharmaceuticals‚
biotechnology‚ consumer electronics and telecommunications.
Before joining Peninsula‚ Mr. Truex was Vice President of Commercial Development for Versicor Inc. (now Vicuron) where he directed early commercial efforts for their infectious disease products and assisted with the company's successful IPO. Prior to joining Versicor‚ Mr. Truex worked at Eli Lilly and Company where he served in various marketing and sales roles during the launch of three different products for the primary care physician market (Actos®‚ Evista®‚ and Humalog 75/25®). His business development experience includes the Lilly ICOS LLC joint venture‚ two major product divestitures and numerous small research collaborations. During that time Mr. Truex also worked with several product teams on various divestiture strategies.
About Lowell E. Sears‚ Chairman
Lowell E. Sears has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sears Capital Management‚ Inc.‚ a life sciences venture
capital and portfolio management company‚ since 1994. Prior to founding Sears Capital Management‚ Mr. Sears was Chief
Financial Officer of Amgen‚ Inc. from 1988 to 1994 as well its Senior Vice President responsible for the Asia–Pacific
region. Mr. Sears served as Amgen's Treasurer and Director of Planning from 1986 to 1988. From 1976 to 1986‚ Mr. Sears
held senior financial and planning positions with Atlantic Richfield Company‚ an integrated oil company‚ including several
years as Chief Financial Officer of its Ventures Division.
About Anthera Pharmaceuticals Board Members
Dennis M. Lanfear‚ Director
Dennis M. Lanfear is President‚ Lanfear Capital Advisors‚ LLC. Denny spent thirteen years at Amgen where he was a Corporate
Officer and Vice–President. His tenure there began in 1986 when he founded the Process Development Department. Under his
ten–year leadership this group became the preeminent organization of its type in BioPharma and a key strategic advantage
for the company‚ as it remains today. As Vice President Process Development and Operations Systems‚ he directed the business
process integration of Operations and Quality staff world–wide.
Lanfear Capital invests in early–stage therapeutic product and device companies; its portfolio includes Asilomar Pharmaceuticals‚ Coapt Systems‚ EndoVx‚ and others. Lanfear Capital is also a Limited Partner in select venture funds. Denny earned degrees in Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry from Michigan State University and holds an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.
Christopher S. Henney‚ Ph.D.‚ D.Sc.‚ Director
Christopher S. Henney is a co–founder of three major publicly held U.S. biotechnology companies: Immunex‚ ICOS and Dendreon‚
and has been associated with the formation of several others. During his tenure at Immunex and ICOS three important products‚
Leukine‚ Enbrel and Cialis‚ were discovered and developed. During Dr. Henney’s leadership at Dendreon‚ Provenge was discovered
and developed. It is the only cancer vaccine that has been tested‚ to date‚ in a phase III randomized‚ double–blind study.
It is expected to be first in class on approval‚ which is forecast for 2006.
Dr. Henney received his Ph.D. in experimental pathology and a D.Sc. for contributions to the field of immunology from the University of Birmingham. He held faculty positions at Johns Hopkins University‚ the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center‚ in the field of immunology and microbiology. Dr. Henney is currently a Director of Biomira Inc. (Edmonton‚ Alberta) and Bionomics Ltd. (Adelaide‚ South Australia). He is also chairman of the privately held company‚ Structural Genomix (San Diego‚ CA).
About Anthera Pharmaceuticals
Anthera Pharmaceuticals is a start–up pharmaceutical company focused on the in–licensing of promising clinical candidates
for the treatment of serious respiratory and inflammatory diseases. Anthera has identified four clinical stage products which
have the potential to address a variety of these target diseases including: acute lung injury‚ cystic fibrosis‚ COPD‚ asthma
and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Please visit Anthera Pharmaceuticals at www.anthera.com.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Laura Silver‚ LAS Communications‚ Inc.
310.551.9940‚ laura@lascommunications.com
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