BRISBANE, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- BiPar Sciences, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer therapies, today announced that the company's Chairman of the Board G. Kirk Raab will assume the role of acting chief executive officer. The company is now conducting a search for a permanent replacement for departing CEO Tom White, a co-founder of the firm. Mr. White will continue as a consultant and member of the board.
Mr. Raab was chief operating officer of Abbott Laboratories and CEO of Genentech Inc. For the last 10 years he has been working as chairman and a consultant to a number of new biotech companies.
"Tom has done a terrific job getting the company to this stage with our lead product about to enter a robust series of Phase 2 clinical trials in several different cancers and a second compound advancing into the clinic early next year," said Mr. Raab. "We will be searching for a CEO candidate who has long-term commercial and development experience in oncology as we enter a more advanced stage of pipeline development at BiPar. In the meantime, I will be involved on a day-to-day basis to keep these promising oncology opportunities on track."
BiPar is developing multiple compounds designed to inhibit PARP 1 (poly-ADP-ribose polymerase), an enzyme crucial to cell repair and upregulated in certain tumors. The company plans to begin Phase 2 trials for its lead candidate BSI-201 later this year in three major cancers.
About BiPar Sciences
BiPar Sciences Inc. (http://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/
