Wednesday July 8, 5:42 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Aurora Biosciences Corporation
Aurora Biosciences Appoints VP, Business Development
SAN DIEGO, July 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Aurora Biosciences Corporation (Nasdaq: ABSC - news) announced today that Michael J. Dunn has been appointed vice president, business development. Mr. Dunn will focus on establishing new collaborations for Aurora's drug discovery technologies and services, as well as supporting existing relationships with collaborators such as Merck & Company, Warner-Lambert Company [NYSE:WLA - news], Eli Lilly and Company [NYSE:LLY - news], and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Mr. Dunn brings over 17 years of broad business experience to Aurora, including business development, program and contract development, and generation of licensing and research agreements at SIBIA Neurosciences, Inc. He was instrumental in the formation of SIBIA and, in addition to his business development duties, played key roles in that company's strategic development and financing efforts over the years. Mr. Dunn received a B.A. in biology from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. in management and finance from the University of San Diego.
''We look forward to having Michael fill this newly created position as we accelerate Aurora's collaborative efforts,'' said Paul A. Grayson, senior vice president, corporate development. ''As we plan for Aurora's UHTSS system to come on line in 1999, and as new synergistic programs emerge, such as our functional genomics technology, we anticipate increasing opportunities to establish customized agreements for diverse programs with multiple corporate partners.''
Aurora designs and develops proprietary drug discovery systems, services and technologies to accelerate and enhance the discovery of new medicines. Aurora is developing an integrated technology platform comprised of a portfolio of proprietary fluorescent assay technologies and an ultra-high throughput screening system designed to allow assay miniaturization and automation with the potential to help change the paradigm of drug discovery. The Company believes that this platform will enable Aurora and its collaborators to take advantage of the
opportunities created by recent advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry that have generated a multitude of new therapeutic targets and small molecule compounds to screen. In addition to the collaborators named above, Aurora has agreements with Roche Bioscience, Allelix Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and SIDDCO, Inc.
Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are ''forward-looking'' statements which involve a high degree of technological and competitive risks and uncertainties that exist in the Company's operations and business environment. Such statements are only predictions and the Company's actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include risks associated with dependence on pharmaceutical and biotechnology
collaborations, the dependence on patents and proprietary rights, the Company's new and uncertain technology, and the development or availability of competing systems. These factors and others are more fully described in the Company's Annual Report on form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1997, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For additional corporate information, visit the Aurora website at aurorabio.com.
SOURCE: Aurora Biosciences Corporation
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I like the positive tones of this news release. Adding an experienced V.P. of Business Development is a good sign. |
