CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Idenix
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDIX), a biopharmaceutical company
engaged in the discovery and development of drugs for the treatment
of human viral diseases, today announced that it has appointed
Tamar D. Howson to its Board of
Directors. Ms. Howson is currently a Partner at JSB-Partners,
a transaction advisory firm serving the life sciences industry.
Ms. Howson has extensive experience in licensing,
collaborations and M&A transactions in her 20-year career as a
corporate and business development executive and advisor to
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.
"Tamar is an internationally recognized pharmaceutical executive
with broad industry expertise in global business development and
venture capital investments. Over the course of her career,
Ms. Howson has executed close to 100 transactions in life
sciences," said Jean-Pierre Sommadossi, Ph.D., chairman and chief
executive officer of Idenix. "Her background and strategic insight
will be an important asset to the Idenix Board of Directors."
Prior to joining JSB-Partners, Ms. Howson was executive vice
president of business development at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals where
she led the company's partnering and licensing efforts. From 2001
to 2007, Tamar was senior vice president corporate and business
development at Bristol Myers Squibb overseeing M&A, licensing
and research collaborations across all businesses. In 2000 and
2001, Ms. Howson served as a business development and strategy
consultant to biotechnology companies in the United States and in Europe. Ms. Howson worked at SmithKline
Beecham from 1991 to 2000, where she was senior vice president and
director of business development, responsible for worldwide
in-licensing and business development. She also managed SR One,
SmithKline Beecham's $100 million
venture capital fund. Before joining SmithKline Beecham, Ms. Howson
served as vice president, venture investments at Johnson
Associates, a venture capital firm, and earlier as director,
worldwide business development and licensing for Squibb
Corporation. In 1999, Ms. Howson received the Healthcare
Businesswomen's Association "Woman of the Year" Award.
Ms. Howson currently serves on the board of S*Bio Pte Ltd., a
consultant to Pitnago Venture Fund and is a member of the advisory
board to Triana Venture Partners. She previously served on
the boards of Ariad Pharmaceuticals, SkyPharma, NPS Pharma,
Targacept, and HBA. Ms. Howson holds an M.B.A from Columbia University, a M.S. from City College of New York and a B.S. in Chemical
Engineering from the Technion in Israel.
About Idenix
Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a
biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development
of drugs for the treatment of human viral diseases. Idenix's
current focus is on the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. For
further information about Idenix, please refer to
www.idenix.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements for
purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, the
statements regarding the company's future business and financial
performance. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that
are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking
statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "expects,"
"plans," "anticipates," "will," "estimates," "projects," "would,"
"could," "targets," and similar expressions are also intended to
identify forward-looking statements, as are express or implied
statements with respect to the company's clinical development
programs or commercialization activities in HIV or hepatitis C, or
any potential pipeline candidates and expectations with respect to
additional milestone payments, future royalty payments and cash
balances at the end of 2009. Actual results may differ materially
from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result
of risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to: there can
be no guarantees that historical sales of Tyzeka®/Sebivo®
(telbivudine) will in any way suggest future royalty payments or
royalty rates owed to the company, or that the company will advance
any clinical product candidate or other component of its potential
pipeline to the clinic, to the regulatory process or to
commercialization; management's expectations could be
affected by unexpected regulatory actions or delays; uncertainties
relating to, or unsuccessful results of, clinical trials, including
additional data relating to the ongoing clinical trials evaluating
its product candidates; the company's ability to obtain additional
funding required to conduct its research, development and
commercialization activities; the company's dependence on its
collaborations with Novartis Pharma AG and GlaxoSmithKline; changes
in the company's business plan or objectives; the ability of the
company to attract and retain qualified personnel; competition in
general; and the company's ability to obtain, maintain and enforce
patent and other intellectual property protection for its product
candidates and its discoveries. Such forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause actual results to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by
such statements. These and other risks which may impact
management's expectations are described in greater detail under the
heading "Risk Factors" in the company's annual report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2009
as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and in
any subsequent periodic or current reports that the company files
with the SEC.
All forward-looking statements reflect the company's estimates
only as of the date of this release (unless another date is
indicated) and should not be relied upon as reflecting the
company's views, expectations or beliefs at any date subsequent to
the date of this release. While Idenix may elect to update
these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, it
specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, even if the
company's estimates change.
Idenix Pharmaceuticals Contact:
Teri Dahlman (617) 995-9905
SOURCE Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.