RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
BioCryst
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (NASDAQ:BCRX) today announced that Fred E.
Cohen, M.D., D.Phil., was elected to the Company's Board of Directors.
"The Board of Directors and Leadership Team of BioCryst are very pleased
to have Fred join the Company's Board," said George
B. Abercrombie, Chairman of the Board of BioCryst. "Fred brings a
wealth of scientific knowledge and business acumen to BioCryst and has
been a valuable resource to the organization for several years as both
an advisor and as an investor. We look forward to his guidance and
insights toward the further success of BioCryst."
In 2001, Dr. Cohen joined TPG to initiate TPG's venture efforts in
biotechnology and life sciences, and he serves as a Partner and Managing
Director at TPG
Biotech. Dr. Cohen has been a member of the faculty of University of
California, San Francisco (UCSF) since 1986. At UCSF, Dr. Cohen has
served as an Internist for hospitalized patients, a consulting
Endocrinologist and as the Chief of the Division of Endocrinology and
Metabolism. His research interests include structure based drug design,
prion diseases, computational biology and heteropolymer chemistry.
Fred's research is best known in the fields of protein structure and the
conformational basis of prion disease.
Dr. Cohen received his B.S. degree in Molecular Biophysics and
Biochemistry from Yale University, his D.Phil. in Molecular Biophysics
from Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, his M.D. from Stanford and his
postdoctoral training and postgraduate medical training in Internal
Medicine and Endocrinology at UCSF. He is a Fellow of the American
College of Physicians and the American College of Medical Informatics
and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and
Association of American Physicians. Dr. Cohen was elected to the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 2004 and
the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008.
Currently Dr. Cohen serves on the Board of Directors of Genomic Health,
Quintiles Transnational and the Boards of several privately held
companies.
"Both peramivir and BCX4161 were discovered using structure based drug
design, a proven approach to developing potent and selective inhibitors
of enzymes involved in disease," said Dr. Fred E. Cohen. "With the
recent progress in BioCryst's hereditary angioedema and peramivir
influenza development programs, it is an exciting time to join its Board
of Directors."
About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals designs, optimizes and develops novel small
molecule drugs that block key enzymes involved in infectious and
inflammatory diseases, with the goal of addressing unmet medical needs
of patients and physicians. BioCryst currently has two late-stage
development programs: peramivir, a viral neuraminidase inhibitor for the
treatment of influenza, and ulodesine,
a purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP) inhibitor for the treatment of
gout. In addition, BioCryst has several early-stage programs: BCX4161
and a next generation oral inhibitor of plasma kallikrein for hereditary
angioedema and BCX4430,
a broad spectrum antiviral for hemorrhagic fevers. For more information,
please visit the Company's website at www.BioCryst.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding future results and achievements. These statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which
may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be
materially different from any future results, performances or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.
Please refer to the documents BioCryst files periodically with the SEC
and located at http://investor.shareholder.com/biocryst/sec.cfm.
BCRXW
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
Robert Bennett, +1-919-859-7910 (investors)
Source: BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
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