Appointments to AEterna Zentaris Scientific Advisory Board
February 24 2005 - 7:30AM
PR Newswire (US)
Appointments to AEterna Zentaris Scientific Advisory Board QUEBEC
CITY, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Prof. Jurgen Engel, PhD,
Executive Vice President, Global R&D and Chief Operating
Officer of AEterna Zentaris Inc. (TSX: AEZ; Nasdaq: AEZS), today
announced the following appointments to the Company's Scientific
Advisory Board: Alan H. DeCherney, MD, Professor at the David
Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles;
Glenn D. Prestwich, PhD, founder and Chief Scientific Officer,
Board Member of Echelon Biosciences, Salt Lake City, Utah; Frans M.
J. Debruyne, MD, PhD, Professor and Chairman at the University
Medical Center in Nijmegen, The Netherlands; and Professor Marcel
Verheij, MD, PhD, The Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van
Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. "The expertise
of these new members, together with that of the other members of
our board, enables us to enhance our team of seasoned scientists in
oncology and endocrinology which are the focus of our scientific
research strategy", said Professor Engel. "We are very proud to
welcome such eminent scientists to our Scientific Advisory Board,"
commented Gilles Gagnon, President and CEO at AEterna Zentaris. "I
would also like to take this opportunity in expressing our sincere
gratitude to Dr. Richard Beliveau, PhD, Director of the Molecular
Oncology Laboratory of the Cancer Research Centre at the
Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal, as well as Dr. W.K. (Bill)
Evans, MD, FRCPC, Executive Vice President, Clinical Programs,
Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto, for their valuable contribution
over the years." Alan H. DeCherney, MD Dr. DeCherney is a Professor
at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California
Los Angeles, as well as Head of Reproductive Medicine, Obstetrics
and Gynecology at the same institution. He is a Director of the
American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and was President of
the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. He is also a
publisher or co-publisher of various medical journals including
Frontiers in Science, Assisted Reproductive Reviews, Fertility and
Sterility and The New England Journal of Medicine and has published
over 400 technical journal articles, book articles and technical
books. Glenn D. Prestwich, PhD Founder and Chief Scientific
Officer, Board Member of Echelon Biosciences in Salt Lake City, Dr.
Prestwich earned his PhD from Stanford University. Over the last 25
years, he has, among others, acted as Presidential Professor and
Chair of the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of
Utah, as well as Program Leader for Molecular Pharmacology for the
Huntsman Cancer Institute. He has published over 400 technical
papers and text chapters, and holds over 20 patents. Frans M. J.
Debruyne, MD, PhD Dr. Debruyne has been Professor and Chairman of
the Department of Urology at the University Medical Center
Nijmegen, The Netherlands, since 1981. He received his medical
degree from the University of Louvain in Belgium and earned a PhD
from the University Medical School in Nijmegen. He was Chairman of
the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer
Genito- Urinary (EORTC GU) Group, Chairman of the European Society
of Urological Research (ESUR) and Vice President of the Societe
Internationale d'Urologie (SIU). He also acted as Secretary General
of the European Association of Urology (EAU) for more than ten
years. Dr. Debruyne has received numerous scientific and clinical
awards and has authored or co-authored more than a thousand
articles in peer-reviewed journals. Marcel Verheij, MD, PhD
Professor Verheij is a permanent staff radiation oncologist at The
Netherlands Cancer Institute/Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in
Amsterdam. He received his medical degree at the State University
in Leiden, The Netherlands, and earned his PhD from the Free
University in Amsterdam. From 1994 until 1996, he joined the group
of Zvi Fuks at the Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center in New
York, where he was involved in apoptosis research and defined the
role of the stress-activated protein kinase/c-Jun N-terminal kinase
(SAPK/JNK) signal transduction pathway in radiation-induced
apoptosis. In 2004, he was appointed Professor in Translational
Radiotherapy at the Free University in Amsterdam. He has also
received several awards: Radiobiological Fellowship Award, Dutch
Cancer Society (1994), ESTRO-VARIAN Radiobiology Research Award
(1997), Clinical Cancer Research Award, Dutch Cancer Society
(2001). These new appointees will join the current members of
AEterna Zentaris' Scientific Advisory Board, namely: Gerald Batist,
MD, CM, FACP, Director of the McGill Center for Translational
Research in Cancer, Chair and Professor, Department of Oncology and
Medicine, McGill University, Jewish General Hospital, Montreal,
Canada; Rene Frydman, MD, PhD, Head of the Department of Gynecology
and Obstetrics at the Hopital Antoine Beclere, Paris; Klaus H.R.
Diedrich, MD, PhD, Director of the Department of Gynecology and
Obstetrics at the University Clinic in Luebeck, Germany; Fernand
Labrie, OC, OQ, MD, PhD, Head, Centre hospitalier de l'Universite
Laval Research Center, Quebec, Canada; and Hartmut Michel, PhD,
Director, Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, Frankfurt, Germany
and Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, 1988. About AEterna Zentaris
Inc. AEterna Zentaris Inc. is an oncology and endocrine therapy
focused biopharmaceutical company with proven expertise in drug
discovery, development and commercialization. The Company's broad
20 product pipeline leverages five different therapeutic
approaches, including LHRH antagonists and signal transduction
inhibitors. The lead LHRH antagonist compound, cetrorelix, is
currently marketed for in vitro fertilization under the brand name
Cetrotide(R), and has successfully completed a broad Phase II
program in endometriosis and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
The lead signal transduction inhibitor compound, perifosine, is an
orally-active AKT inhibitor that is in several Phase II trials for
multiple cancers. AEterna Zentaris also owns 61.1% of Atrium
Biotechnologies Inc., a leading developer, manufacturer and
marketer of value-added products for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical,
chemical and nutrition industries. News releases and additional
information about AEterna Zentaris are available on its Web site
http://www.aeternazentaris.com/ . Forward-Looking Statements This
press release contains forward-looking statements made pursuant to
the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's actual
results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the
availability of funds and resources to pursue R&D projects, the
successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the ability
of the Company to take advantage of business opportunities in the
pharmaceutical industry, uncertainties related to the regulatory
process and general changes in economic conditions. Investors
should consult the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the
Canadian and U.S. securities commissions for additional information
on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking
statements. Investors are cautioned not to rely on these
forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to
update these forward- looking statements. DATASOURCE: AETERNA
ZENTARIS INC. (FORMERLY/ANCIENNEMENT - LES LABORATOIRES AETERNA
CONTACT: Media Relations: Paul Burroughs, (418) 652-8525 ext. 406,
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