IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Xytis Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on developing novel therapeutics to treat central nervous system (CNS) diseases, today announced that Gordon H. Busenbark has joined the company as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Busenbark has more than 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical devices industries. During a 23 year career at Baxter Healthcare, Mr. Busenbark held a number of senior-level financial, operational and general management positions in both the U.S. and Europe. This included roles as Chief Financial Officer of Immuno AG when the company was acquired by Baxter, and President of Baxter's global Plasma Therapeutics business. Mr. Busenbark's most recent role was as Chief Financial Officer at Encysive Pharmaceuticals, where his accomplishments included raising more than $100 million in debt and equity financing.
"We are very pleased to have Gordon join Xytis," said Vincent F. Simmon, CEO and President. "He brings great financial and operational experience, both from a large pharmaceutical company perspective as well as from that of a smaller biotechnology company. Gordon joins us at an exciting time for Xytis. Our Phase 2 clinical trial in Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is approximately half way enrolled. Also, there is considerable partnering interest in two of our pre-clinical programs; positive allosteric modulators of GABA-A receptor and of alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. His experience and assistance in financing and marshalling these programs forward will be greatly welcomed."
Mr. Busenbark has both a B.S. in Accounting and an MBA from the University of Utah.
About Xytis
Xytis Inc. is a privately held discovery and development biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Irvine, California, and having a clinical development group in Nyon, Switzerland, focused on innovative CNS drug candidates. The Company's investors include Atlas Venture, Sanderling Ventures, CDC Innovation, and Ventech. Xytis has a rich portfolio of proprietary preclinical compounds that are novel, highly selective allosteric modulators of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), GABA-A receptors and other well-validated CNS targets. The Company has two compounds in clinical development -- Neboglamine (XY2401) and Anatibant (XY2405). Neboglamine is a selective norepinephrine uptake inhibitor, which has completed single and multiple dose Phase 1 studies, and is intended for the treatment of patients with schizophrenia and/or major depression. XY2401 has been well tolerated in the Phase 1 studies. Anatibant (XY2405), Xytis' lead compound, is under development for TBI with a Phase 2 multi-center trial ongoing in nine countries worldwide with more than 200 patients enrolled. See http://www.xytis.com for additional information.
CONTACT: Xytis Inc., +1-949-725-3700
Web site: http://www.xytis.com/
