Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Appointment To Its Board Of Directors

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2000--Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the appointment of Ginger S. Johnson, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors.

Dr. Johnson brings an array of valuable experience and expertise to Panacea. With a career that includes positions in basic and applied scientific research, private equity investing, and corporate development, Dr. Johnson has a unique understanding of the issues critical to the success of a growing biotechnology venture. Given her proven ability to identify the commercial viability of emerging technologies and trends in the life science industry, Panacea is pleased to have her accept a position on our Board.

Currently, Dr. Johnson is a Vice President in the Corporate Development team at Skila, Inc. where she identifies and executes strategic partnerships and works in conjunction with Skila's executive team to define their corporate strategy. Skila, Inc. is a next-generation Internet company dedicated to providing global business intelligence and eKnowledge solutions for the pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology industries.

Dr. Johnson joined Skila from Chase Capital Partners (CCP), a private equity investment firm, where she was the Director of Life Science Research. While at CCP, Dr. Johnson's research and investment activities focused on the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and eHealth industries.

Prior to CCP, Dr. Johnson was the Associate Director of the Center for Biotechnology at Northwestern University where she helped to develop an innovative graduate program that combines the science and business of biotechnology.

Dr. Johnson spent eight years in basic and applied research, primarily in the field of Alzheimer's disease, at the National Institutes of Health and an emerging biotechnology company. She has published 14 peer-reviewed publications, presented over 20 abstracts, and is an inventor on several patents.

Dr. Johnson received a B.S. in Molecular Biology from the University of Tennessee, a Ph.D. in Genetics from George Washington University, and has completed graduate studies at the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Dr. Johnson stated, "I am excited to join the Board of Directors of Panacea. We are well positioned to take advantage of our excellent technology portfolio and highly experienced management team."

"The addition of Ginger to our Board greatly strengthens our industry backbone, particularly in the areas of financing, strategy development and implementation, and partnering," said Hossein A. Ghanbari, Ph.D., President and CEO of Panacea. "Ginger fills a key seat on our Board, with her expertise nicely complementing those of the current members."

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. focuses on developing and utilizing protein-based technologies to detect and identify changes associated with and involved in diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer's disease, brain tumors, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, and Lewy body diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Changes in disease-relevant proteins by altered expression, post-translational modification, and functional variation are utilized to develop diagnostic tests and therapeutic agents.

More information is available at www.PanaceaPharma.com, a web site developed by Ei Web Promotion, a division of eiCommunications.com, Inc. (www.eiCommunications.com), which offers integrated communications and web development solutions for the Information Age.