Wednesday June 25 2003, 10:20 AM Eastern Time

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Appointment Of Bijan Almassian, PhD as Chief Operating Officer

GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Bijan Almassian, PhD to the position of Chief Operating Officer.

Kasra Ghanbari, the Chief Operating Officer of the Company since its inception, has been promoted to the position of President. Additionally, Hossein A. Ghanbari, PhD, President & CEO of the Company, will now serve as CEO & Chief Scientific Officer.

"Bijan's extensive product and corporate development experience adds considerable strength to our management team and its ability to maximize Company resources and opportunities in developing our diversified technology portfolio," stated Kasra Ghanbari, President of the Company.

"I'm excited to be joining the exceptional combination of people and technology at Panacea," stated Dr. Almassian. "We are well positioned to meet our product development milestones and to continue to drive and evolve our value-adding and partnering model."

Dr. Almassian's 20 years of industry experience has focused on managing the development of biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical products in the areas of cancer, infectious diseases, and lupus. He brings considerable experience in all aspects of drug development including project management and planning, preclinical and clinical study design and execution, quality control and assurance, regulatory and clinical affairs, process development, and manufacturing in both the United States and Europe.

Dr. Almassian was most recently President, COO, and Director of AlexiPharma, Inc. in New Haven, Connecticut, a company dedicated to developing compounds for pain and obesity.

Prior to joining AlexiPharma, he served at several senior management capacities at Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., including Director of Development, Vice President of Development, as an officer of the company, and most recently as Vice President of Drug & Corporate Development. During his approximately seven-year tenure at Vion, Dr. Almassian's team was responsible for the development and filing of INDs for five anticancer drugs and biologics.

He spent six years at GeneLabs, Inc. as Manager of Process Development & Manufacturing and then Director of Pharmaceutical Development, responsible for product development activities for small molecule and biological drugs against AIDS, Lupus, Hepatitis E, and cancer.

Before joining Genelabs, he held several scientific positions at Genzyme/Integrated Genetics, Instrumentation Laboratories, and Orion Research.

Dr. Almassian holds MS and PhD degrees in Medicinal Chemistry from Northeastern University and Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, respectively, with postdoctoral training in cancer and cardiovascular research at Boston University Medical School.

 

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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.