SAN MATEO, Calif., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing anti-inflammatory drugs for chronic and acute diseases, today announced that Donald J. Santel has been appointed to Anthera's Board of Directors.
"Don's experience in transforming early biotech startups into commercial stage organizations will be of benefit as we expand our pipeline and move A-002 into large scale Phase III clinical trials," said Paul F. Truex, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. "His strategic and operational insights related to the challenges facing development stage companies will be invaluable as Anthera embarks on the next phase of growth."
"We're pleased to have an individual of Don's caliber join our Board of Directors," said Lowell E. Sears? Chairman of Anthera's Board of Directors. "We look forward to his contributions that will further shape strategic direction and drive future growth."
Donald J. Santel has 25 years experience in the biotechnology/biopharmaceutical and medical device industries. Most recently, he was Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at CoTherix, Inc., where he launched Ventavis(R) Inhalation Solution and led the sale of the company to Actelion Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. in January 2007. Prior to CoTherix, he served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Reflow, and sold the company to Fox Hollow (now EV3) and served as Vice President of Marketing and International Sales at Cardiac Pathways Corporation, a medical device company later acquired by Boston Scientific. Mr. Santel began his career at Medtronic, Inc. Mr. Santel also serves on the board of Hyperion Therapeutics. He has a BSE from Purdue University and an MS in from the University of Minnesota.
About Anthera Pharmaceuticals
Anthera Pharmaceuticals is a privately-held pharmaceutical development company committed to world-class development and commercialization of promising clinical products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with life-threatening chronic and acute inflammatory diseases. In 2006, Anthera acquired worldwide rights (except Japan) to a series of clinical and pre-clinical compounds that inhibit the enzymatic activity of members of the phospholipase (PLA2) family -- a group of enzymes responsible for the release of arachidonic acid and subsequent production of leukotrienes? prostacyclins and other mediators of inflammation. These highly potent compounds inhibit novel? upstream steps in the inflammation cascade and have the potential to address a variety of diseases including: acute chest syndrome, acute lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and psoriasis. In order to efficiently commercialize this platform, Anthera has brought together a proven management team with extensive experience in licensing, clinical research, development, and commercialization of anti-inflammatory products. For more information please visit http://www.anthera.com.
pr@anthera.com
CONTACT: Anne Bowdidge of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-650-218-6900,
pr@anthera.com
Web site: http://www.anthera.com/
