SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Catalyst Biosciences, Inc., a pioneer in the discovery and development of engineered proteases known as Alterase(TM) therapeutics, has appointed Todd Lorenz, M.D., as the company's Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Lorenz's career encompasses nearly 20 years of experience focused on the clinical development of novel medicines.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. Lorenz to the Catalyst team," said Nassim Usman, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst Biosciences. "Hiring an experienced CMO to lead our development efforts is a critical step as Catalyst expands from drug discovery into clinical development. His expertise in clinical development and operations is particularly welcome as we advance our lead program, CB 813, an improved factor VIIa product for the treatment of acute bleeding in hemophiliacs, toward an IND filing in 2009."

"I am delighted to join Catalyst and have the opportunity to shape the clinical strategy for the company's pipeline of protease therapeutics," said Dr. Lorenz. "CB 813 is a highly promising compound with the potential to become a best-in-class therapeutic for hemophilia patients. Catalyst's protease therapeutics platform is poised to deliver a new class of biologics comparable in depth and scope to monoclonal antibodies."

Throughout his career, Dr. Lorenz has held leadership positions in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with responsibilities across several therapeutic areas. Dr. Lorenz joins Catalyst from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where he was Vice President and Associate Therapeutic Head for Cardiovascular Development. In this role, he contributed to clinical development efforts in several internal J&J entities including Scios, the Corporate Office of Science and Technology and Peninsula Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Lorenz served as Chief Medical Officer for Orexigen Therapeutics from 2005-2006 and was Chief Medical Officer at Corgentech from 2001-2005 where he was responsible for the clinical development of a transcription factor inhibitor through Phase 3 clinical development. From 1994-2001 at COR Therapeutics, Dr. Lorenz was intimately involved in the development, approval and medical affairs support for Integrilin(R), a novel platelet inhibitor, and from 1990-1994 he focused on the development of immunology product candidates at XOMA.

Dr. Lorenz is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern. He completed a fellowship in Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco, and is board certified in both subspecialties. Dr. Lorenz has published extensively in journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), The Lancet, Circulation and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

About Catalyst Biosciences

Catalyst Biosciences is developing the next generation of biopharmaceuticals by harnessing the catalytic power of engineered proteases to target proteins underlying disease. Catalyst's discovery platform rapidly creates and optimizes tailor-made protease drug candidates that cleave a wide variety of disease targets, either by improving existing protease drugs or by creating new protease drugs, known as Alterase(TM) therapeutics. Initially, Catalyst is focusing its product development efforts on drug candidates for hemophilia, age-related macular degeneration, oncology and inflammation. To date, Catalyst has established two discovery research and product development agreements with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Centocor Research & Development, Inc. Catalyst is privately-held with backing by leading venture firms including Burrill & Company, HealthCare Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Morgenthaler Ventures, Novartis BioVentures, RCT BioVentures and Sofinnova Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.catbio.com.

CONTACT: Erik Wiberg, Chief Financial Officer of Catalyst Biosciences,
Inc., +1-650-266-8654, ewiberg@catbio.com; or Karen L. Bergman,
+1-650-575-1509, or Michelle Corral, +1-415-794-8662, both of BCC Partners,
for Catalyst Biosciences, Inc.

Web site: http://www.catbio.com/