SAN DIEGO, July 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metabasis Therapeutics announced today that it was added to the Russell 3000(R) Index effective at the close of U.S. markets on June 30, 2006. The Russell family of U.S. indexes is designed to be a comprehensive representation of the investable U.S. equity market. These indexes are value-weighted and include only common stocks belonging to corporations incorporated in the U.S. and its territories. The Russell 3000 Index, which is reconstituted annually, measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies based on total market capitalization, which represents approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market. Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional index fund investors.
Metabasis also announced today that the Company will host a conference call and live webcast on Thursday, August 10, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time to discuss its financial results for the second quarter of 2006. Senior management including Dr. Paul Laikind, chairman, president and CEO, Mr. John Beck, senior vice president of finance and CFO, and Dr. Mark Erion, executive vice president of research and development and CSO, will participate in the call.
The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800-510-0178 for domestic callers and 617-614-3450 for international callers. Please specify to the operator that you would like to join the “Metabasis Second Quarter 2006 Financial Results Conference Call.” The conference call will be webcast live on the Metabasis website at www.mbasis.com, under the Investors section, and will be archived there for 30 days following the call. Please connect to Metabasis’ website several minutes prior to the start of the call to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary.
About Metabasis (www.mbasis.com):
Metabasis Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel drugs to address some of the world’s most widespread and costly chronic diseases involving pathways in the liver. The Company has established a pipeline that includes clinical stage and preclinical product candidates targeting major diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Targeted diseases include major metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia and obesity as well as liver diseases such as hepatitis and primary liver cancer. Metabasis has developed several proprietary technologies for use in discovering and optimizing drugs, including the NuMimetic(TM) and HepDirect(R) technologies. Metabasis is continuing to identify and develop new product candidates using its proprietary technologies and expertise.
Metabasis Therapeutics
CONTACT: Constance Bienfait, Vice President, Investor Relations &Corporate Communications of Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., +1-858-622-5575
Web site: http://www.mbasis.com/
