Avalon Pharmaceuticals Names Todd R. Golub, M.D. as Chairman and Member of Its Scientific Advisory Board
01 November 2006 - 10:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
GERMANTOWN, Md., Nov. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq and NYSE ArcaEx: AVRX), a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of small molecule therapeutics, today announced the appointment of
Todd R. Golub, M.D., to the newly created position of Chairman,
Scientific Advisory Board effective October 26, 2006. "We are very
fortunate to have a visionary of Dr. Golub's stature to lead our
Scientific Advisory Board at this pivotal point in our
development," said Kenneth C. Carter, Ph.D., President and CEO of
Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "Dr. Golub's credentials in research
and, like Avalon, his particular experience as a fellow pioneer in
developing better medicines using molecular profiling will assist
our company as we move ahead with our discovery and development
programs." Dr. Golub is a founding member of the Broad Institute, a
collaboration of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard
and its affiliated Hospitals, and the Whitehead Institute, created
to bring the power of genomics to medicine. Dr. Golub serves as
director of its Cancer Program. He is a leader in applying genomic
tools to the classification and study of cancers. He has made
fundamental discoveries in the molecular basis of childhood
leukemia, and pioneered the use of molecular profiling approaches,
particularly DNA micoarrays, to cancer biology. Dr. Golub is also
an Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School and is
the Charles A. Dana Investigator in Cancer Genetics, at the Dana
Farber Cancer Institute. He also serves as an Investigator at the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute. His current Hospital appointments
include Assistant in Medicine at Children's Hospital, Boston, MA,
and Attending Physician, Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Golub
joins an already distinguished Avalon Scientific Advisory Board
that consists of Brian J. Druker, M.D., Chairman of Leukemia
Research and Professor of Medicine at Oregon Health and Science
University Cancer Institute, who is widely recognized for his
seminal contributions to the discovery and development of Gleevec,
one of the first molecularly targeted cancer drugs; William A.
Scott, Ph.D., a current member of the Avalon Board of Directors and
the former Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery Research at
Bristol-Meyers Squibb; and Paul Workman, Ph.D., Director of the
Centre for Cancer Therapeutics/ Institute of Cancer Research,
Sutton, United Kingdom, who is considered a leader in the use of
molecular profiling approaches in cancer research. "I am pleased to
be associated with Avalon Pharmaceuticals at this time," stated Dr.
Golub. "I am very impressed with Avalon's approach to drug
discovery and their use of molecular profiling approaches to
understanding cancer biology." In addition to Dr. Golub's current
position he has also served at the Whitehead/MIT Center for Genome
Research as the Director, Cancer Genomics, and Group Leader,
Functional Genomics. He was a Research Fellow in Pediatrics at
Harvard Medical School; a Fellow in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology,
Children's Hospital and Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Dr. Golub
performed his residency and internship in Medicine at Children's
Hospital, Boston, MA. Dr. Golub has received numerous awards
including the Discover Magazine's Inventor of the Year (Health
Category) in 2000, the Judson Daland Prize for Outstanding
Achievement in Clinical Investigation of the American Philosophical
Society in 2001, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the
American Association for Cancer Research in 2002. Dr. Golub
received his B.A. in 1985 from Carleton College and his M.D. in
1989 from the University Of Chicago Pritzker School Of Medicine.
About Avalon Pharmaceuticals Avalon Pharmaceuticals is a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of small molecule therapeutics through the use of a comprehensive,
innovative and proprietary suite of technologies based upon
large-scale gene expression analysis which it calls AvalonRx(R).
This platform facilitates drug discovery by expanding the range of
therapeutic targets for drug intervention, including targets and
target pathways frequently considered intractable using
conventional HTS approaches, allows more informed decisions about
which compounds to advance towards clinical trials, and facilitates
drug development through identification of biomarkers of efficacy
that can stratify patients or provide early indicators of response.
Avalon's focus is oncology but the company has discovery programs
in other therapeutic areas with partners. Avalon Pharmaceuticals
was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Germantown,
Maryland. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. These statements are
based on management's current expectations and are subject to
risks, uncertainty and changes in circumstances, which may cause
actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially
from anticipated results, performance or achievements. All
statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in
nature are forward looking. Economic, business, competitive and/or
regulatory factors affecting Avalon's business are examples of
factors, among others, that could cause actual results to differ
materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
All forward-looking statements are also expressly qualified in
their entirety by the cautionary statements included in Avalon's
Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including its quarterly
reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. Avalon is
under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation
to) update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts:
Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Noonan Russo Gary Lessing Wendy Lau
(Media) Executive Vice President & CFO Tel: (212) 845-4272 Tel:
(301) 556-9900 Fax: (301) 556-9910 The Trout Group LLC Email: Chad
Rubin (Investors) Tel: (212) 477-9007 ext. 47 DATASOURCE: Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CONTACT: Gary Lessing, Executive Vice
President & CFO of Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
+1-301-556-9900, Fax: +1-301-556-9910, ; or Media: Wendy La of
Noonan Russo, +1-212-845-4272; or Investors: Chad Rubin of The
Trout Group LLC, +1-212-477-9007 ext. 47; both for Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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