Micromet, Inc. Appoints Barclay Phillips as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
September 02 2008 - 7:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
BETHESDA, Md., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micromet, Inc.
(NASDAQ: MITI) ("Micromet" or the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical
company developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment
of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases, today announced
the appointment of Barclay A. Phillips as Senior Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Phillips has served as a member of the
Company's board of directors since 2000, and was the chair of the
nominating & corporate governance committee and a member of the
audit committee. In connection with his joining the executive
management team of Micromet, Mr. Phillips has resigned from the
board and the committees he served on. "We are very excited to have
Buck Phillips become a member of our executive management team,"
commented Christian Itin, President and Chief Executive Officer,
and a member of Micromet's Board. "While he served on the board of
directors, Buck has gained intimate knowledge of our business, the
development programs and the management team he is now joining. His
financial and industry experience will be invaluable in continuing
the high standard for the management of the financial affairs of
Micromet that he has helped set as a member of our audit committee.
We thank Buck for his service on the board, and look forward to his
leadership and contributions in the development and implementation
of our financing and business strategies." "I have had the
opportunity to work with and invest in many biotechnology
companies. I believe Micromet is unique in terms of the breadth of
its proprietary technology, its clinical validation as evidenced by
the recent article in Science magazine, and its strong management
team," stated Mr. Phillips. "I look forward to the next chapter in
my long-term relationship with the Company." Mr. Phillips served as
a member of the Company's board of directors since December 2000.
From 1999 to August 2008, Mr. Phillips has been a Managing Director
of Vector Fund Management. From 1991 to 1999, Mr. Phillips served
in various roles including Director of Private Placements and
Biotechnology Analyst for INVESCO Funds Group, Inc. From 1985 to
1990, Mr. Phillips held positions in sales and trading with Paine
Webber, Inc. and Shearson Lehman Hutton, Inc. Over the last ten
years, Mr. Phillips has held board positions for a number of public
and private life sciences companies and currently serves as a
director of Acorda Therapeutics, Inc., a publicly traded
biopharmaceutical company. Mr. Phillips received a B.A. in
economics from the University of Colorado in Boulder. About
Micromet, Inc. (http://www.micromet-inc.com/) Micromet, Inc.
(http://www.micromet-inc.com/) is a biopharmaceutical company
developing novel, proprietary antibodies for the treatment of
cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Four of its
antibodies are currently in clinical trials, while the remainder of
the product pipeline is in preclinical development. The BiTE(R)
antibody blinatumomab (MT103/MEDI-538) is in a phase 2 clinical
trial for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic
leukemia and in a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of
patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. BiTE antibodies represent a
new class of antibodies that activate a patient's own cytotoxic T
cells, considered the most powerful "killer cells" of the human
immune system, to eliminate cancer cells. Micromet is developing
blinatumomab in collaboration with MedImmune, Inc., a subsidiary of
AstraZeneca plc. MT110 is the second BiTE antibody in clinical
trials, and is being developed by Micromet in a phase 1 clinical
trial for the treatment of patients with lung or gastrointestinal
cancer. The third clinical stage antibody is adecatumumab, also
known as MT201, a human monoclonal antibody that targets epithelial
cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-expressing solid tumors. Micromet is
developing adecatumumab in collaboration with Merck Serono in a
phase 1b clinical trial evaluating adecatumumab in combination with
docetaxel for the treatment of patients with metastatic breast
cancer. The fourth clinical stage antibody is MT293 which is
licensed to TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and is being developed in
a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of patients with cancer.
Three additional BiTE antibodies, targeting CD33, CEA and MCSP,
respectively, are in preclinical development. In addition, Micromet
has established a collaboration with Nycomed for the development
and commercialization of MT203, a human antibody neutralizing the
activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor
(GM-CSF), which has potential applications in the treatment of
various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid
arthritis, psoriasis, or multiple sclerosis. Forward-Looking
Statements This release contains certain forward-looking statements
that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to be materially different from historical results or from
any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements include statements
regarding the efficacy, safety and intended utilization of our
product candidates, the development of our BiTE antibody
technology, the conduct, timing and results of future clinical
trials, expectations of the future expansion of our product
pipeline and collaborations, and our plans regarding future
presentations of clinical data. You are urged to consider
statements that include the words "ongoing," "may," "will,"
"believes," "potential," "expects," "plans," "anticipates,"
"intends," or the negative of those words or other similar words to
be uncertain and forward-looking. Factors that may cause actual
results to differ materially from any future results expressed or
implied by any forward-looking statements include the risk that
product candidates that appeared promising in early research,
preclinical studies or clinical trials do not demonstrate safety
and/or efficacy in subsequent clinical trials, the risk that
encouraging results from early research, preclinical studies or
clinical trials may not be confirmed upon further analysis of the
detailed results of such research, preclinical study or clinical
trial, the risk that additional information relating to the safety,
efficacy or tolerability of our product candidates may be
discovered upon further analysis of preclinical or clinical trial
data, the risk that we or our collaborators will not obtain
approval to market our product candidates, the risks associated
with reliance on outside financing to meet capital requirements,
and the risks associated with reliance on collaborators, including
MedImmune, Merck Serono, TRACON and Nycomed, for the funding or
conduct of further development and commercialization activities
relating to our product candidates. These factors and others are
more fully discussed in Micromet's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007, filed with the SEC on
March 14, 2008, as well as other filings by the company with the
SEC. Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and, as such,
speak only as of the date made. Micromet, Inc. undertakes no
obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
DATASOURCE: Micromet, Inc. CONTACT: US Media: Andrea tenBroek or
Chris Stamm, +1-781-684-0770, ; or European Media: Ludger Wess, +49
(40) 8816 5964, ; or US Investors: Susan Noonan, +1-212-966-3650, ;
or European Investors: Ines-Regina Buth, +49 (30) 2363 2768, Web
site: http://www.micromet-inc.com/
Copyright