REDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , today announced that Michael Brawer, M.D. has been named Urology Therapeutic Area Head. Dr. Brawer joins Threshold as a member of the management team and will lead the strategic product development for TH-070, the Company’s late-stage product candidate for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), and help to identify additional genitourinary opportunities for Threshold. In addition, the Company noted that during the past year it had continued to strengthen its development capabilities with the addition of three vice presidents to help manage the Company’s clinical development programs, which include two phase 3 studies.
Dr. Brawer, a consultant to Threshold Pharmaceuticals since 2004, has been the director of the Northwest Prostate Institute in Seattle, Washington since 1998. He was formerly Professor of Urology and adjunct Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington.
“We are extremely pleased with Michael’s commitment to Threshold,” said Alan Colowick, chief medical officer. “His knowledge and depth of understanding of the urology area has provided a great deal of insight into the treatment of BPH and the importance of bringing our potential new therapy to men suffering from the symptoms of BPH.”
Dr. Brawer is the winner of several prestigious awards including the 1996 Gold Cystoscope Award for outstanding contributions to the profession from the American Urological Association. He has been the principal investigator or consultant for more than 90 studies supported through national research and industry grants. The objective of his research has been basic science and clinical investigations into benign and neoplastic proliferative disorders of the prostate.
Dr. Brawer received his medical degree from the University of California School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency training at Stanford University School of Medicine. He serves on the editorial review boards of 13 medical journals and has served on the scientific advisory boards of many pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
In the last year Threshold has strengthened its management team with the addition of several vice presidents in the areas of clinical, regulatory and manufacturing.
Mr. Hassan Movahhed, Vice President Clinical Affairs, is responsible for providing leadership and operational direction to Threshold’s clinical operations activities. Mr. Movahhed has more than twenty years of drug development experience with a major focus on timely and quality execution of clinical trials. For the last year he served as Senior Director, Clinical Operations at ICOS. Prior to that, he spent 13 years at Amgen in a variety of clinical positions and led the U.S. Clinical Operations group that was responsible for managing all of Amgen’s U.S. clinical trials. Mr. Movahhed began his corporate career at Bristol Myers Squibb where he spent 11 years in a variety of research and clinical roles. Mr. Movahhed received his master’s degree in Biological Science from the University of Michigan.
Dr. Helen Shu, Vice-President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality, has over twenty years of industry experience and is responsible for the company’s global regulatory strategy and operations across Threshold’s development programs. Prior to joining Threshold, Dr. Shu served as a Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance and Control at Anosys and prior to that served as the Head of Regulatory Affairs and manufacturing at Angioenix. From 1997 to 1999 as the Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Shu successfully led Neurex/Elan through several IND and NDA submissions resulting in two approved products. Previously, she held regulatory management positions at Systemix and Syntex. Dr. Shu received an M.A. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology and a Ph.D. in Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences from UC Berkeley.
Mr. George Tyson, Vice-President of Manufacturing Operations, brings a wealth of experience from his 26 years in the chemical and pharmaceutical business. At Dow Chemical Company from 1979-1996 Mr. Tyson was responsible for process scale-up, production, support, and manufacturing. At ALZA, where he worked from 1996 until joining Threshold last year, he was most recently responsible for the manufacturing operations for three marketed products with a range of delivery systems and technologies. Mr. Tyson received his BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley and his MBA from San Jose State University.
About Threshold Pharmaceuticals
Threshold is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule therapeutics in middle- and late-stage clinical trials for the potential treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a disease afflicting tens of millions of men worldwide, and cancer. By selectively targeting tumor or other abnormally-proliferating cells, the Company’s drug candidates are designed to be potentially more effective and less toxic to healthy tissues than conventional treatments. For additional information, please visit our website (www.thresholdpharm.com)
Contact: Denise T. Powell Carolyn Bumgardner Wang Sr. Director, Corporate Communications WeissComm Partners, Inc. Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. 415-946-1065 650-474-8206 carolyn@weisscommpartners.comdpowell@thresholdpharm.com
Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Denise T. Powell, Sr. Director, Corporate Communications ofThreshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +1-650-474-8206, ordpowell@thresholdpharm.com; Carolyn Bumgardner Wang of WeissComm Partners,Inc., +1-415-946-1065, or carolyn@weisscommpartners.com, for ThresholdPharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web site: http://www.thresholdpharm.com/
