Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Appoints Concetta E. Bartosh Vice-President for Legal Affairs

GAITHERSBURG, Md., Jan. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the appointment of Concetta E. Bartosh, J.D. as Vice-President for Legal Affairs. Ms. Bartosh brings with her extensive domestic and international experience in technology transfer, intellectual property development and management, and general corporate law. She will be responsible for all corporate legal affairs and the management of outside counsel.

We are excited about Connie joining our management team at Panacea," stated Kasra Ghanbari, Chief Operating Officer of the Company. "The Company will benefit from her extensive experience in developing and managing intellectual property and from her diverse corporate law background as we look ahead to building upon our core collaborative and strategic relationships."

Ms. Bartosh joins the Company from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHBLI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she was Director of the Office of Technology Transfer and Development, overseeing all administrative, business development, and marketing efforts for the NHLBI's technology development activities as well as those of five other institutes within the NIH.

Prior to that, she was Associate Director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Her responsibilities there included the identification and evaluation of new intellectual property, the oversight of patent prosecution by outside counsel, and the management of sponsored research and licensing activities including contract development, negotiation, and compliance issues.

Ms. Bartosh served as Staff Attorney at Celera Genomics in Rockville, Maryland drafting, analyzing, and negotiating contracts for business development, sales, and research activities. She also served as Licensing Associate at Case Western Reserve University/University Technology, Inc. in Cleveland, Ohio identifying, evaluating, assessing marketability, and managing intellectual property as well as identifying and negotiating with global licensees and research sponsors.

Prior to her work in academia and industry, Ms. Bartosh practiced law for nearly ten years, engaged in a diverse practice with a focus on business development and general corporate law for technology-based companies.

Ms. Bartosh received her Juris Doctor from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Biology from Case Western Reserve University, both in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Association of University Technology Managers, the Licensing Executives Society, and Mensa International, where she is the past President of the Cleveland Area Mensa Chapter.

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing functional genomics and proteomics to develop therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases with substantial unmet clinical need. The Company's product development focus is on novel proteins and biochemical pathways related to cellular regulation and cell cycle abnormalities in oncology as well as neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.

More information is available at http://www.PanaceaPharma.com .

Except for historical information presented in this press release, matters discussed herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management only as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related to our access to capital, the progress, costs, and results of any clinical trials undertaken by us, progress of our research and development projects, and uncertainties related to whether our product candidates would ultimately achieve commercial success. We do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise unless required by law.