Keryx Announces Senior Management Changes Michael S. Weiss Appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., and JERUSALEM, Dec 23, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/
-- Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: KERX; AIM: KRX), a drug discovery and
development company, announced today the appointment of Michael S. Weiss as
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, replacing Dr. Benjamin
Corn, who is resigning his position as Chief Executive Officer and President,
effective immediately. At the same time, the Company also announced that Dr.
Morris Laster, Keryx's Executive Chairman, is resigning effective immediately to
pursue other activities. Mr. Weiss will consolidate senior management in the
United States and will relocate the Company's headquarters from Jerusalem to New
York City.
Mr. Peter Kash, Vice Chairman of Keryx's Board of Directors, stated, "On behalf
of the Board, I want to welcome Michael Weiss to Keryx. Mike is an experienced
biotechnology executive with a track record for creating shareholder value. He
successfully engineered the turnaround of Genta Incorporated (Nasdaq: GNTA), a
company which then had a market capitalization of less than $5 million, and
which today boasts a market capitalization in excess of $600 million, and a
corporate partnership with Aventis valued in excess of $400 million. We are
excited about the prospect of Mike bringing that kind of success to Keryx." Mr.
Kash added, "Keryx's number one priority is KRX-101, our Phase 3 compound for
the treatment of diabetic nephropathy, with a market potential of $1 billion a
year. We look forward to getting Mike immediately involved in this key project."
"I am extremely excited about this opportunity," said Mr. Weiss. "Current
management has worked extremely hard to bring the Company to where it is today,
and I am eager to build on their efforts and use my capabilities to generate
significant shareholder value."
Michael Weiss has nearly a decade of experience in the biotech industry as a
founder and manager of a number of biotechnology companies. Mr. Weiss is the
Vice Chairman of Genta Incorporated and Chairman of ACCESS Oncology, Inc., a
cancer-focused biotechnology company that he founded and for which he served as
CEO from 1999-2002. Previously, he also served as Senior Managing Director of
Paramount Capital, where he was primarily responsible for creating and financing
biotechnology companies. Mr. Weiss began his professional career as an attorney
at Cravath, Swaine & Moore, after graduating from Columbia Law School.
Commenting on his departure, Dr. Morris Laster stated, "It has been an honor and
privilege to have been a founder of Keryx and to have been involved in its
evolution to a public company. I am particularly proud of the innovative Subpart
H accelerated approval strategy for KRX-101, which I championed with the FDA. I
feel that it is time for me to move on and I wish Keryx much success in the
future. "
"Morris is a talented entrepreneur," stated Peter Kash. "The significant
contributions he has made to Keryx, from both a scientific and strategic
perspective, are widely acknowledged and greatly appreciated. On behalf of the
Keryx Board, we want to thank him for his dedicated service to the Company and
we wish him much success in the future endeavors. We also want to express our
appreciation to Ben Corn, for his devoted efforts on behalf of Keryx. We wish
him much success in his future ventures as well," said Peter Kash.
ABOUT KERYX BIOPHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company focused on developing
innovative therapies through its proprietary technologies for the treatment of
critical medical conditions including cancer and diabetes. Keryx is developing
KRX-101 (sulodexide), a novel treatment for diabetic nephropathy. In August
2001, KRX-101 received "Fast-Track" designation from the United States Food and
Drug Administration and Keryx is preparing to initiate Phase 3 clinical trials
for this drug pursuant to a Subpart-H clinical development plan. Subpart H
allows for the use of surrogate endpoints in pivotal Phase 3 trials to support
NDA approval, with confirmatory studies completed post-approval. Keryx believes
that this approach could greatly reduce the development time to market. Keryx is
also building a pipeline of drug candidates using its novel KinAceTM drug
discovery platform. This technology is being developed to allow for rapid and
rational development of drug candidates that target a vast range of protein
kinases. The Company's most advanced kinase-modulating drug candidate, KRX-123,
is in late-stage pre-clinical development for the treatment of hormone resistant
prostate cancer. In addition, Keryx is developing the Small Integrated Building
(SIB) block technology platform, for the conversion of peptides and other
existing drugs into small molecules. Keryx is traded on Nasdaq (KERX) and the
London AIM (KRX). |
