TKTX Transkaryotic Therapies (MM)

TKT Announces Executive Promotions CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (NASDAQ:TKTX) today announced that five key members of its management team have been promoted. Neil Kirby, Ph.D. has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Strategic Product Development and named a section 16b officer of the company. The other executives who received promotions include Paul (Kip) M. Martha, M.D. to Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, Gregory D. Perry to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Linda H. Pettingell to Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Services, and Suzanne L. Bruhn, Ph.D. to Vice President, Global Regulatory Affairs. "These people form a key part of the team that has done a tremendous job positioning the company for future growth and I am very pleased to announce their promotions," said Michael J. Astrue, President and Chief Executive Officer of TKT. Dr. Kirby joined TKT in January 2002 as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs with over 18 years of industry and academic experience, including an extensive background in global regulatory affairs. At TKT he has managed global regulatory affairs and more recently spearheaded the company's strategic planning initiative and other portfolio management efforts. In this new role, Dr. Kirby will have overall responsibility for TKT's program management, regulatory affairs and strategic planning initiatives. He joined TKT from Vertex Pharmaceuticals where he served as Program Executive for its commercial and clinical HIV products. Prior to joining Vertex, he served as Project Director, Hemophilia Products at Genetics Institute where he managed all research and development efforts associated with this product franchise. Dr. Kirby also held a variety of regulatory appointments, including positions at both Genetics Institute and Biogen. He received a B.Pharm and a Ph.D. from the University of London. Dr. Martha joined TKT as Vice President, Clinical Affairs in January 2004 where he has managed all clinical research, biostatistics and clinical operations activities related to the company's ongoing clinical development programs. In his new role, he will have added responsibility for TKT's medical affairs and pharmacovigilance functions and will continue to have overall responsibility for the planning, implementation and management of TKT's clinical development programs. He joined TKT from Interleukin Genetics where he was Chief Medical and Regulatory Officer and Vice President for Clinical Research and Development. Prior to joining Interleukin, Dr. Martha was Vice President, Clinical R&D at PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals Inc. He also held several positions at Genentech, including Director of Endocrinology and Neurology, where he had overall responsibility for the clinical development of the company's growth hormone products and related growth hormone factor programs. Before joining the biotechnology industry, Dr. Martha was an Assistant Professor at Tufts University School of Medicine and a practicing Pediatric Endocrinologist at Baystate Medical Center. He has authored or co- authored more than 100 articles, book chapters and abstracts in the medical literature. He received a B.S. in Biology from Trinity College and an M.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He received his professional training in pediatrics and conducted his Internship/Residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and his Fellowship in endocrinology at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Mr. Perry joined TKT in May 2003 as Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. Since joining the company he has expanded the finance function, raised $94 million through the sale of convertible debt, and assisted in the acquisition of TKT Europe. Before joining TKT, he served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Business Development, Life Sciences at PerkinElmer, Inc. In this position, Mr. Perry was responsible for the financial management of PerkinElmer's $500 million drug discovery tools and genetic disease screening business, as well as information technology and business development activities. Prior to joining PerkinElmer, he was Chief Financial Officer of the Automotive Aftermarket Products Group at Honeywell. During a fourteen-year tenure at General Electric, he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility in finance and business development, most recently as Chief Financial Officer of GE Medical Systems, Europe. Mr. Perry received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Amherst College. Ms. Pettingell joined TKT as Vice President, Human Resources in September 2002 with nearly 20 years of experience in the creation and execution of numerous human resources practices and policies, including employee development, rewards, benefits, and employment. Over the past two years she has expanded the Human Resource function, including initiatives in performance management, compensation, and organizational development strategies. Before joining TKT, Ms. Pettingell served as Vice President, Human Resources at Genetic MicroSystems Inc. from 1998 through its acquisition by Affymetrix Inc. in 2002. Ms. Pettingell was a founding partner at HR Alliance, Inc. where she specialized in human resources for fast growth biotechnology companies. She also held human resources positions at KPMG, Inc. She received a B.S. in Business/Human Resource Management from Northeastern University. Dr. Bruhn joined TKT in 1998 where she implemented the company's program management function and processes, ultimately becoming Vice President, Program Management. Dr. Bruhn became Vice President, Regulatory Affairs in 2003 and was responsible for all aspects of TKT's U.S. regulatory affairs. Prior to joining TKT, she held a variety of positions at CytoTherapeutics, Inc., including Program Manager for ophthalmic indications and Scientist in the Department of Cell and Molecular Neurobiology. Before joining the biotechnology industry, Dr. Bruhn was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bruhn received a B.S. from Iowa State University of Science and Technology and a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. About TKT Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on researching, developing and commercializing treatments for rare diseases caused by protein deficiencies. Within this focus, the company markets Replagal(TM), an enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease, and is developing treatments for Hunter syndrome and Gaucher disease. In addition to its focus on rare diseases, TKT intends to commercialize Dynepo(TM), its Gene- Activated(R) erythropoietin product for anemia related to kidney disease, in the European Union. TKT was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with additional operations in Europe, Canada and South America. Additional information about TKT is available on the company's website at http://www.tktx.com/. This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding TKT's management structure, as well as statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "should," "could," "will," "may," and similar expressions. There are a number of important factors that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including whether TKT will be able to successfully manage its operations including financial operations, human resource management, regulatory affairs, and other factors set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed November 9, 2004, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are incorporated herein by reference. While the company may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, even if its expectations change. Gene-Activated(R) is a registered trademark and Replagal(TM) is a trademark of Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. Dynepo(TM) is a trademark of Sanofi-Aventis. For More Information Contact: Justine E. Koenigsberg Senior Director, Corporate Communications (617) 349-0271 Daniella M. Lutz Corporate Communications Manager (617) 349-0205 http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990913/TKTLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. CONTACT: Justine E. Koenigsberg, Senior Director, Corporate Communications, +1-617-349-0271, or Daniella M. Lutz, Corporate Communications Manager, +1-617-349-0205 both of Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. Web site: http://www.tktx.com/ Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/120657.html

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