CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the election of Jeffrey M. Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors. Dr. Leiden, a Managing Director at Clarus Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm, has a distinguished career of more than 20 years of experience in the biomedical and pharmaceutical sectors. Prior to joining Clarus, Dr. Leiden served as President and Chief Operating Officer of the Global Pharmaceutical Business of Abbott Laboratories.
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“It is a pleasure to have Dr. Leiden join the Millennium Board of Directors,” said Deborah Dunsire, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Millennium. “We believe his diverse pharmaceutical and scientific experience will enable him to help guide our continued growth and success in our mission of delivering vital medicines to patients.”
Prior to joining Abbott Laboratories in 2000, Dr. Leiden was the Elkan R. Blout Professor of Biological Sciences at Harvard School of Public Health, as well as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Before his career at Harvard, he served as Professor of Medicine and Pathology and Chief of Cardiology at the University of Chicago, School of Medicine. Dr. Leiden has also co-founded several biotechnology firms.
“I’m delighted to join Millennium’s Board of Directors and begin supporting Millennium’s management in continuing to build a leading biopharmaceutical company,” said Dr. Leiden. “I look forward to utilizing my experiences and knowledge to further the Company’s success and deliver important drugs to patients in need.”
Dr. Leiden earned both his medical degree and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago as well as an honorary M.A. from Harvard University. He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Leiden joins the Board as an independent director. His appointment brings the number of Millennium Board members to ten.
About Millennium
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., markets VELCADE, a novel cancer product, and has a robust clinical development pipeline of product candidates. Millennium’s research, development and commercialization activities are focused in two therapeutic areas: oncology and inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome, understanding of disease mechanisms and industrialized drug discovery platform, Millennium is developing an exciting pipeline of innovative product candidates. Millennium’s website is http://www.millennium.com.
This press release contains “forward-looking statements,” including statements about the Company’s growth and development of products. Various important risks may cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in its drug discovery and clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for its discoveries; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; the Company’s dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services based on its work; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from its development efforts; product withdrawals; competitive factors; difficulties or delays in manufacturing the Company’s products; government and third-party reimbursement rates; the commercial success of VELCADE and INTEGRILIN(R) (eptifibatide) Injection; achieving revenue consistent with internal forecasts; and the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the Company faces, see the reports it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Editors’ Note: This press release is also available under the Media section of the Company’s website at: http://www.millennium.com.
Contacts:
CONTACT: Media, Jennifer Snyder, +1-617-444-1439, or Investors, Kyle
Kuvalanka, +1-617-761-4734, both of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.millennium.com/
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