Avalon Pharmaceuticals Appoints David D. Muth to Executive Vice President, Chief Business Officer
September 27 2006 - 7:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
GERMANTOWN, Md., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq and NYSE Arca: AVRX), a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development
of small molecule therapeutics, today announced the appointment of
David D. Muth to the newly created position of Executive Vice
President, Chief Business Officer, effective September 21, 2006. He
will report to Kenneth C. Carter, Ph.D., President and CEO of
Avalon Pharmaceuticals. "David's appointment marks an important
step in the growth of our Company," said Dr. Carter. "He brings a
broad skill set encompassing general management, corporate business
development, product development and launch, and strategic planning
with an outstanding track record of delivering results. With
David's extensive business experience he will be a valuable
resource to our management team as we chart the future of the
Company." As Chief Business Officer, Mr. Muth will contribute to
the development of the corporate strategy, be responsible for
developing new commercial opportunities and direct all business
development activities. "I am delighted to be joining Avalon at
this time in the Company's history," stated Mr. Muth. "With the
continued advancement of AVN944 in human trials, the partnering
opportunities surrounding the emerging pipeline and the AvalonRx(R)
technology, I see tremendous opportunity for leveraging these
assets into future growth." Mr. Muth has over 25 years of business
experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He
most recently served as the President and Chief Executive Officer
of Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp. where he built a CNS pipeline and
directed the successful co-development of AllegraD-24hrs for
sanofi-aventis. Prior to Osmotica, he was the President and Chief
Operating Officer of Cengent Therapeutics and the Senior Vice
President of Business Operations for NABI Biopharmaceutical, Inc.
At NABI, he developed and implemented the strategy that
transitioned the company from a plasma supplier into a fully
integrated biopharmaceutical company. During his five year tenure,
he led a team that significantly grew pharmaceutical sales
annually, built a natural hematological/oncology sales
organization, and launched four products, two of which he was
responsible for in-licensing. Additionally, Mr. Muth had a
distinguished 17-year career with Johnson & Johnson in a
variety of senior management roles. He held positions of increasing
responsibility spanning all commercial functions including
marketing research, sales, product management, new product
development, and corporate development. In this capacity, he was
responsible for the successful launch of three significant
pharmaceutical products, namely Terazol (anti-fungal), Ortho
Cyclen, and OrthoTri-Cyclen (oral contraceptives). Additionally, he
directed worldwide female healthcare corporate development
activities for Ortho McNeil, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.
Mr. Muth received a B.S. in accounting from Villanova University,
an M.B.A. in Finance from Pace University and an M.B.A. in
Pharmaceutical Marketing from Farleigh Dickinson University. 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 Matthew Haines (Investors)
Email: Tel: (212) 845-4235 DATASOURCE: Avalon Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Gary Lessing, Executive Vice President & CFO of Avalon
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-301-556-9900, or Fax: +1-301-556-9910, ;
or Media: Wendy Lau, +1-212-845-4272, or Investors: Matthew Haines,
+1-212-845-4235, both of Noonan Russo
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