Iconix Biosciences Adds Former President And CEO Of Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. To Its Board Of Directors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Iconix Biosciences announced that Heiner Dreismann, Ph.D. has become a Director of the company. Most recently, Dr. Dreismann served as President and CEO of Roche Molecular Systems (RMS), Roche Diagnostics' global business area responsible for the development, manufacture and distribution of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) products. During this period, he was also a member of Roche Diagnostics' global Executive Committee.

"We are very pleased to have Dr Dreismann join the Iconix Board," said Jim Neal, CEO, Iconix Biosciences. "We are launching into our next development phase, applying our expertise in toxicology and biomarker technology to human diagnostics. Heiner has the background that will help us achieve our goals of expanding into new, untapped areas," said Neal.

Dr. Dreismann serves on several boards of biotech and diagnostic companies. Dr. Dreismann received his M.A. in Biology from Westfalische Wilheims University in Munster, Germany and his Ph.D. in Microbiology/Molecular Biology from the University of Munster.

Separately, Iconix announced that it has changed its name from Iconix Pharmaceuticals to Iconix Biosciences to reflect its focus on developing products and technologies that employ toxicogenomics processes. These products and technologies are designed to enable faster, more accurate toxicology studies performed by biopharmaceutical companies and regulatory agencies as well as in the near-term, clinical reference laboratories.

About Iconix:

Iconix Biosciences, Inc., the leader in toxicogenomics products and services, has pioneered the integration of chemistry and genomics to enable the pharmaceutical and other industries to develop safer drug candidates and compounds. The company's technologies increase the odds of advancing the right candidates to the clinic, reduce attrition rates in late stage trials and help keep the costs of drug discovery in check. Iconix provides reference systems and universally recognized expertise to predict toxic liabilities, side effects and mechanisms of toxicity for drug candidates and environmental chemicals. Iconix' DrugMatrix system has been installed at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use by CDER (Center for Drug Evaluation and Research) scientists and reviewers in a range of toxicogenomics applications and is used by the US FDA to evaluate voluntarily genomic data submissions. The company has major research collaborations and technology alliances with Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, and Eli Lilly and has strategic partnerships with leading life sciences companies including Affymetrix and GE Healthcare. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Iconix was founded in 1998 and is privately held. For more information, visit www.iconixbiosciences.com .

Company Contact: Cate Sabatini (650) 567-5500 csabatinbi@iconixbiosciences.com For Iconix Biosciences, Inc. Jennifer Larson (415) 409-2729 jlarson@labfive.com

CONTACT: Cate Sabatini, of Iconix Biosciences, Inc., +1-650-567-5500, orcsabatinbi@iconixbiosciences.com, or Jennifer Larson, +1-415-409-2729, orjlarson@labfive.com, for Iconix Biosciences, Inc.

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