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"The addition of these talented and experienced professionals to VLST'sboard and management comes at a time of continued advancement and growth forour Company," said Martin Simonetti, president and chief executive officer ofVLST. "Both Dave and Ron will be instrumental in helping to guide our effortsas we begin advancing our novel product candidates into the clinic."
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"I am pleased to be joining VLST's board and to be working again with VLSTcofounder, Dr. Craig Smith. We worked together at Immunex," said Urdal."Craig's seminal work in the discovery of Enbrel is the basis for VLST's noveldrug discovery platform."
Dr. Urdal has served as Dendreon's chief scientific officer since 1995.Prior to joining Dendreon, he held various positions with Immunex Corporation,including president of Immunex Manufacturing Corporation, vice president anddirector of development, and head of the departments of biochemistry andmembrane biochemistry. At Immunex, Dr. Urdal participated in the discovery,development and commercialization of hematopoietic growth factors, cytokinesand cytokine receptors, such as GM-CSF (Leukine(R)) and TNF-receptor(Enbrel(R)). Dr. Urdal has served as a director of Dendreon since 1995 andalso serves as director for Ore Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Urdal received hisM.S. in Public Health and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Oncology from theUniversity of Washington.
Mr. Myers has broad experience in M&A, licensing, litigation andintellectual property, including more than 16 years experience in intellectualproperty acquisition, enforcement and defense in the biotech andpharmaceutical fields. Mr. Myers joined Corixa in 2004 and served asassociate general counsel, intellectual property. In 2005, Corixa wasacquired by GlaxoSmithKline, plc., during which time Mr. Myers played a keyrole in the transition of assets. Mr. Myers also served as senior patentcounsel to Pfizer Inc., where his responsibilities included global managementof Pfizer's antiviral therapeutic portfolio, as well as patent enforcement anddefense in the US, Canada, Asia and Japan. Prior to his in-house work, Mr.Myers served as outside counsel to several Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Myersreceived an M.S. in Molecular Pharmacology from Thomas Jefferson University inPhiladelphia, PA and his J.D. from George Washington University in Washington,DC.
VLST recently relocated its operations within Seattle to a new corporateheadquarters at 307 Westlake Avenue North. The new office location providesfor expanded laboratory and research facilities.
About VLST
VLST Corporation is a privately held biotechnology company dedicated tothe streamlined discovery and development of novel therapeutics for thetreatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. The VLST approach combinesnovel bioinformatics and cutting-edge proteomics to provide a rapid andrational approach to identifying new targets for the development of novelbiologic therapies. The VLST discovery platform has primary applications forthe treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis,lupus and diabetes. For more information, please visithttp://www.vlstcorp.com.Contact: Julie Rathbun Rathbun Communications, Inc. [email protected] (206) 769-9219
SOURCE VLST Corporation
