BRISBANE, Calif., May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- BiPar Sciences, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer therapies, today announced that it has appointed John Schembri as its Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Schembri comes to BiPar from Sirna Therapeutics, Inc., where he served as vice president of finance until it was sold in December 2006 to Merck & Co. for $1.1 billion.
At Sirna, Mr. Schembri managed all financial activities involved in the sale of the company to Merck. Prior to joining Sirna, Mr. Schembri was the Director of Finance and Controller at Cell Genesys, Inc. He has also held similar positions at Cor Therapeutics, Inc. and Telik, Inc.
"We are delighted to add another industry veteran to our seasoned executive team," said Thomas F. White, BiPar's president and chief executive officer. "John's experience at some of the most innovative and successful biotechnology firms will be highly valuable as we move toward commercialization of our PARP-inhibiting compounds for cancer."
"BiPar is at an exciting time in its history as it prepares to initiate a robust Phase 2 program for its lead product candidate, BSI-201," said Schembri. "I look forward to helping build the company and to maximizing value generated from its pipeline of clinical and late-stage preclinical development programs."
BiPar is developing multiple compounds designed to inhibit PARP 1 (poly- ADP-ribose polymerase), an enzyme that is crucial to cell repair and upregulated in certain tumors. The company plans to begin Phase 2 trials for BSI-201 later this year.
About BiPar Sciences
BiPar Sciences Inc. (www.biparsciences.com) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing a novel class of tumor-selective drugs designed to meet the significant unmet needs of cancer patients. The Company's lead product candidate is BSI-201, which is now in early-stage clinical testing for advanced malignancies. The Company will be evaluating the potential of BSI-201 in multiple cancers and expects to file investigational new drug applications on as many as two additional cancer drug candidates in early 2008.
BiPar Sciences, Inc.CONTACT: Brian Reid of WeissComm Partners, +1-703-402-3626,breid@weisscommpartners.com, for BiPar Sciences
Web site: http://www.biparsciences.com//
