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January 6. 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dr. George M. Milne, Jr. Joins Rib-X
Pharmaceuticals Board Of Directors
Former Pfizer Executive also to Serve
as Consultant to this
Antibiotic Development Company
NEW HAVEN, Conn., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/
-- Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a
privately held biotechnology company
developing the next generation of
antibiotics, announced today that
George M. Milne, Jr., Ph.D., a former
Executive Vice President for Global
Research and Development at Pfizer
Inc.,
has joined its Board of Directors.
Dr. Milne will also serve as a consultant
to Rib-X. This appointment brings
the number of board members to eight.
"There is a critical need globally
for new classes of antibiotics,"
said
Dr. George M. Milne Jr. "Rib-X
has combined a world class antibiotics
research and development team with
exciting state of the art structure
based
design technology that is focused
on overcoming drug resistant bacterial
infections. This combination has enabled
the Company to attract exceptional
financial support from the venture
capital community. Collectively, these
resources provide the Company a strong
opportunity to bring a succession
of
new anti-infective drugs into the
marketplace."
Dr. Milne's thirty-two year career
with Pfizer covered all elements of
biomedical innovation. He held many
positions including, Senior Vice
President for human health and veterinary
Research and Development and
Executive Vice President for Pfizer
Global Research and Development. During
Milne's leadership of the Research
Division from 1993 to 2001, Pfizer's
research investment increased five-fold
from $493 million to over $2.3
billion, a number of significant products
were developed, and a broad array
of
important new pharmaceutical products
and discovery technologies were
introduced. Dr. Milne was also responsible
for a significant portfolio of
Pfizer collaborations with prominent
biotechnology companies.
"Having George Milne's insights
into drug discovery as a board member
and
consultant provides Rib-X further
competitive advantage in our drive
to meet
serious medical needs for new weapons
against multi-drug resistant bacteria,"
said Susan Froshauer, Ph.D., President
and Chief Executive Officer of Rib-X.
"We are honored to have George
as a part of the team."
"George's extraordinary record
of achievement in the pharmaceutical
industry is rare and will no doubt
prove an invaluable resource for the
Company," said Harry H. Penner,
Jr., Chairman of the Rib-X Board of
Directors.
Dr. Milne also serves on the boards
of Charles River Laboratories, Inc.,
Mettler-Toledo, Inc., Athersys, Inc.,
the Mystic Aquarium and the New York
Botanical Garden. In addition, he
is a Venture Partner with Radius Ventures
a
health and life sciences venture capital
firm based in New York. Dr. Milne
received a BS in Chemistry from Yale
University and his Ph.D. in Organic
Chemistry from Massachusetts Institute
of Technology.
About Rib-X
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals is a small molecule
drug discovery company focused on
the structure-based design of new
classes of anti-infective agents.
The Company’s drug discovery
strategy is focused on the exploitation
of its proprietary high resolution
crystal structure of the 50S subunit
of the ribosome to which many known
antibiotics bind. The Company’s
integrated research approach combines
state of the art, proprietary computational
analysis, x-ray crystallography, medicinal
chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry,
allowing for the rapid synthesis of
new agents which avoid typical antibiotic
resistance mechanisms. Utilizing these
tools, Rib-X is optimizing leads to
create new classes of antibiotics.
Contacts
Rx Communications Group
Rhonda Chiger (investors)
917-322-2569
rchiger@rxir.com
Pete Holmberg (media)
917-322-2164
pholmberg@rxir.com
About Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus is a global private
equity firm and a leading investor
in healthcare, biotechnology and specialty
pharmaceuticals. Since 1971, Warburg
Pincus has sponsored ten private equity
investment funds with committed capital
in excess of $19 billion. The firm
is currently investing its eighth
global fund, Warburg Pincus Private
Equity VIII, which had a final closing
in April 2002 at $5.3 billion. Warburg
Pincus has invested more than $800
million in the biotechnology industry
and helped to build more than 40 biotechnology
and biopharmaceutical companies spanning
a broad range of technologies and
stages of development. For more information,
please visit our website at www.warburgpincus.com.
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