CRANBURY, N.J., Jan. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Amicus Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing small molecule, orally-active pharmacological chaperones for the treatment of human genetic diseases, today announced that David J. Lockhart, Ph.D. has been appointed chief scientific officer. Dr. Lockhart most recently served as president and chief scientific officer of Ambit Biosciences in San Diego following leadership positions at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation and Affymetrix where he was the primary developer of DNA arrays for genome-wide gene expression profiling. At Amicus Dr. Lockhart will help lead the research organization and the advancement of the company’s paradigm-shifting pharmacological chaperone technology.
“With David’s pioneering experience in genomics and gene expression profiling, as well as his recent work in the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for cancer and other indications, he is well suited to meet the challenges of applying Amicus’ technology to a broad range of human genetic diseases.” said John Crowley, Amicus chairman and CEO. “David will be a great complement to the strong leadership team already in place at the company.”
Amicus Therapeutics is a clinical stage company pioneering a next- generation approach to treating a wide range of genetic diseases by using pharmacological chaperones to restore shape and function to misfolded proteins. The company’s lead compound Amigal(TM) (migalastat hydrochloride) is in Phase II clinical trials for Fabry disease and the company plans to initiate clinical trials of a new product for the treatment of Gaucher disease in the first half of 2006. In addition, the company has a growing pipeline of other products for a range of genetic diseases.
Stephen P.A. Fodor, Ph.D., founder, chairman and CEO of Affymetrix, Inc. said, “David’s background gives him great potential to expand the understanding of pharmacological chaperones, and in particular their application to the growing field of protein folding-based diseases.”
Dr. Lockhart received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from Stanford University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Whitehead Institute at MIT under Professor Peter S. Kim. After MIT, Dr. Lockhart went to Affymetrix where he served as vice president of genomics research and helped develop high-density DNA microarrays. Subsequently Dr. Lockhart was the director of genomics at the new Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF). He left GNF to become the president and chief scientific officer of Ambit Biosciences where he led development of a new approach to the discovery and development of small-molecule kinase inhibitors for cancer and other indications. Dr. Lockhart has published nearly 60 peer-reviewed scientific articles on kinase technology, kinase inhibitor discovery, genomics and the use of genomic tools for important biological and biomedical problems.
About Amicus Therapeutics
Amicus Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company based in Cranbury, New Jersey, developing small molecule, orally-active pharmacological chaperones for the treatment of human genetic diseases. Many of these diseases are the result of missense and other genetic errors that cause the misfolding and degradation or accumulation of a particular protein. Amicus’ products act as pharmacological chaperones that selectively bind and “rescue” the misfolded target protein to restore its proper conformation and natural function, which in turn restores the function of the affected cells. Amicus’ lead compound Amigal(TM) is in Phase II clinical trials for Fabry disease. The company has an active drug development program for Gaucher disease and is developing programs for a range of genetic diseases.
Additional information about Amicus can be found at www.amicustherapeutics.com CONTACTS: Corporate: Matthew Patterson Amicus Therapeutics (609) 662-2000 Media: Stephen Gendel GendeLLindheim BioCom Partners (212) 918-4650
Amicus Therapeutics
CONTACT: Corporate, Matthew Patterson of Amicus Therapeutics, +1-609-662-2000; or Media, Stephen Gendel of GendeLLindheim BioCom Partners,+1-212- 918-4650, for Amicus Therapeutics
Web site: http://www.amicustherapeutics.com//
