BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Nile Therapeutics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focusing on developing therapies for cardiovascular disease, is pleased to announce the appointments of Daron Evans as its Chief Financial Officer and Jennifer Hodge as the Vice President of Development.
Mr. Evans joined Nile in February 2007 as our Chief Operating Officer, and was appointed Chief Financial Officer in August 2007. In his new role, Mr. Evans will be responsible for overseeing our accounting and finance operations, as well as our compliance with Securities and Exchange Commission reporting obligations. At the same time, Mr. Evans will contribute his substantial operational, business development and entrepreneurial experience in executing our business strategy. Prior to joining Nile, from 2006 to 2007, Mr. Evans served as Director of Business Assessment at Vistakon, a Johnson & Johnson company. Prior to that, from 2004 to 2006, he was a Director of Portfolio & Business Analytics for Scios R&D, a Johnson & Johnson company. Mr. Evans was also a co-founder of a biotechnology diagnostic company, and has worked as a management consultant in the pharmaceutical industry with Booz Allen Hamilton. Mr. Evans received his Masters in Business Administration degree from The Fuqua School of Business at the Duke University, his Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Southwestern Medical School & University of Texas at Arlington and his Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Rice University.
Ms. Hodge joined Nile in August 2007 as the Vice President of Development. Prior to joining Nile, since 2000 Ms. Hodge worked at CV Therapeutics, Inc., (“CVT”), where she most recently served as the Director of Project Management. Prior to CVT, Ms. Hodge was a Global Clinical Team Leader at Quintiles and held Clinical Research Associate positions at Otsuka and Solvay. Ms. Hodge also held pharmacologist and development management responsibilities at the James Black Foundation in London. Ms. Hodge received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology with Honors in Pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh, UK.
“An effective management team is a great predictor of success. I am delighted to be working with such exceptionally talented people. Both Daron and Jenny have years of relevant cardiovascular therapy development experience. As a management team, we are focused on creating value through the development of our lead compound CD-NP for the treatment of heart failure and our pre-clinical, anti-atherothrombotic agent, 2NTX-99,” said Peter Strumph, CEO of Nile Therapeutics.
About Nile Therapeutics.
Nile Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing innovative products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Nile is initially focusing its efforts on developing its lead compound, CD-NP, a novel chimeric peptide in Phase I studies for the treatment of heart failure and 2NTX-99, a small molecule, pre-clinical, anti-atherothrombotic agent with nitric oxide (NO) donating properties.
CD-NP, a novel chimeric natriuretic peptide currently in Phase I clinical studies for the treatment of heart failure, is a selective NPRB agonist which, in vivo, has been shown to have potent renal enhancement and cardiac unloading properties but with minimal hypotensive effects compared with competitive products. CD-NP is a rationally-designed synthetic peptide designed to incorporate favorable properties of naturally occurring natriuretic peptides. Data from Nile’s recently completed Phase Ia study in healthy volunteers confirmed several pre-clinical findings, including that CD-NP activated its target receptor in humans, preserved renal function and caused increases in natriuresis and diuresis at doses associated with a minimal effect on mean arterial pressure. Nile believes that CD-NP could provide a valuable new treatment option for heart failure patients.
2NTX-99 is a novel small molecule that has been shown in vivo and in vitro to inhibit the synthesis and action of thromboxane (TXA2), enhance the production of prostacyclin (PGI2) and supply a pharmacological amount of nitric oxide (NO) to the vasculature. Nile believes that the unique activity profile of 2NTX-99 has potential utility in a range of atherosclerotic, thrombotic and microvascular diseases.
More information on Nile can be found at www.nilethera.com. Contact: Daron Evans Chief Financial Officer Nile Therapeutics, Inc. 510-281-7700 info@nilethera.com
To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, future collaboration agreements, the success of Nile’s product development, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, all such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Examples of the risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the risk that we may not successfully develop and market our products, and even if we do, we may not become profitable; risks relating to the progress of our research and development; risks relating to the rigorous regulatory approval process required for any products that we may develop independently, with our development partners or in connection with our collaboration arrangements; the risk that changes in the national or international political and regulatory environment may make it more difficult to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA or other regulatory approval of our drug product candidates; risks that the FDA or other regulatory authorities may not accept any applications we file; risks that the FDA or other regulatory authorities may withhold or delay consideration of any applications that we file or limit such applications to particular indications or apply other label limitations; risks that, after acceptance and review of applications that we file, the FDA or other regulatory authorities will not approve the marketing and sale of our drug product candidates; risks relating to our own drug manufacturing operations and the drug manufacturing operations of our third-party suppliers and contract manufacturers; risks relating to the ability of our development partners and third-party suppliers of materials, drug substance and related components to provide us with adequate supplies and expertise to support manufacture of drug product for initiation and completion of our clinical studies; risks relating to the transfer of our manufacturing technology to third-party contract manufacturers, and the risk that recurring losses, negative cash flows and the inability to raise additional capital could threaten our ability to continue as a going concern.
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies have suffered significant setbacks in advanced clinical trials, even after obtaining promising earlier trial results. Data obtained from such clinical trials are susceptible to varying interpretations, which could delay, limit or prevent regulatory approval. Except to the extent required by applicable laws or rules, we do not undertake to update any forward-looking statements or to publicly announce revisions to any of our forward-looking statements, whether resulting from new information, future events or otherwise.
Nile Therapeutics, Inc.
CONTACT: Daron Evans, Chief Financial Officer of Nile Therapeutics, Inc.,+1-510-281-7700, info@nilethera.com
Web site: http://www.nilethera.com/
