Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Members of Scientific Advisory Board

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BW HealthWire)--December 5, 2000--Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pleased to announce the initial members of its Scientific Advisory Board.

The advisory board will provide pivotal guidance to the Company's management and technical staff on various aspects of the Company's research and development programs and will also assist in establishing future product direction and development.

"We are honored to have a scientific advisory board with such depth of knowledge and experience in diseases of the brain," stated Hossein A. Ghanbari, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Company. "The expertise of these outstanding scientists will give tremendous support to Panacea's programs for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and brain cancer. Additionally, the group will provide critical input in the areas of proteomics, high-throughput screening, and genomics."

The members are:

Carl R. Merril, M.D. - Chairman

Dr. Merril is a leading expert and innovator on employing non-biased approaches, such as high-resolution two-dimensional protein electrophoresis, to search for abnormal biochemical pathways and genomic alterations in diseases of unknown etiology that affect the central nervous system.

He has published more than 200 scientific papers, is an inventor on nearly two dozen patents, and has been the recipient of numerous awards for his scientific and administrative achievements. Dr. Merril has been at the National Institutes of Health since 1963 and is currently Chief, Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics at the National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Merril is an Adjunct Professor in Biochemistry and Genetics at George Washington University and an Adjunct member of the graduate faculty of the University of Maryland. He is an editorial board member of the journals Analytical Biochemistry, BioTechniques, and Insight.

Dr. Merril also served as the Editor-in-Chief of Applied and Theoretical Electrophoresis and was the Senior Associate Editor of the journal Electrophoresis. He has served as President of both the International Electrophoresis Society and the American Electrophoresis Society and as Chairman of the Surgeon General's Advisory Panel for the Research Officer Group.

Garth Bissette, Ph.D. - Senior Member

Dr. Bissette is a world authority on neuropeptides and their implications in neurodegenerative diseases. He is currently Professor, Division of Neurobiology and Behavior Research, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Professor, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Chief, Laboratory of Psychoneuroendocrinology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Dr. Bissette previously served as Director, Laboratory of Psychoneuroendocrinology and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, at the Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Bissette has published over 300 scientific publications, books, chapters, and abstracts.

A. Claudio Cuello, M.D., D.Sc. - Senior Member

Dr. Cuello is Professor and Chairman in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at McGill University as well as co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of MediCorps, Inc., both of Montreal, Canada.

His previous positions have included Associate Professor in Neuropharmacology at Oxford University, with additional research activities being conducted at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, the University of California in San Francisco, and Cambridge University.

Dr. Cuello has received numerous recognitions and awards including the Heinz Lehman Award, the Novartis Award, and Doctor Honoris Causa degrees from the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil and Kuopio University in Finland.

He has also been made Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and Honorary Professor at both the Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences in China and the University of Buenos Aires.

Dr. Cuello has authored more than 500 scientific publications, chapters/reviews, and abstracts and is an editorial board member of numerous journals including Brain Research, Neuroscience, Synapse, Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, Neuropharmacology, Molecular Neurobiology, Journal of Neuroimmunology, Journal of Neurocytology, and Neuroendocrinology.

Dr. Cuello is a grant reviewer for agencies such as Alzheimer Society of Canada, Alzheimer Society of USA, National Science Foundation, and the Wellcome Trust.

He has been a consultant to the United Nations Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Sandoz (now Novartis), Synthelabo (now Sanofi-Synthelabo) and PharMingen (now Becton, Dickinson PharMingen) and has been on the Scientific Advisory Boards of BioCapital in Montreal and The A.I. Virtanen Institute in Kuopio, Finland.

Allan L. Goldstein, Ph.D. - Senior Member

Dr. Goldstein is a world-renowned authority on the workings of the human immune system, having authored more than 400 scientific publications and written eight books. He is an inventor on nearly a dozen issued U.S. patents. Currently, he is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Goldstein is the co-founder of The Institute for Advanced Studies in Immunology and Geriatric Medicine and has served as its President and Scientific Director.

Dr. Goldstein's prior professional and teaching appointments have included Associate Professor of Biochemistry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Chairman of the Graduate Program in Biochemistry at The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Dr. Goldstein has received numerous international awards and honors for his scientific achievements including the Chevalier des Palmes Academiques, the highest civilian award given by the government of France.

He has been on the editorial boards of nearly two dozen journals including Biotechniques, Virus Genes, Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy, Immunopharmacology, International Journal of Immunopharmacology, Medical Science Research, Journal of Immunopharmacology and Immunotoxicology, and AIDS Sciences.

Dr. Goldstein has served as a consultant to several major pharmaceutical companies, including Hoffman-LaRoche and Genentech, and has sat on the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Boards of many companies and institutions.

George Perry, Ph.D. - Senior Member

Dr. Perry is one of the prominent world experts in the field of Alzheimer's disease and is a pioneer in the area of oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr. Perry is a Special Consultant for Alzheimer's Disease to the Company and Panacea's collaborator at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is Professor of Pathology and Neuroscience in the Institute of Pathology and Department of Neurosciences.

Dr. Perry has served on the Ohio Governor's Task Force on Alzheimer's Disease and on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Institute for the Study of Aging, Familial Alzheimer's Disease Research Foundation, and the Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association.

He has published nearly 600 scientific papers, book chapters/reviews, and abstracts and is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, the Associate Editor (section editor for Neuropathology) for the American Journal of Pathology, and editorial board member of nearly a dozen journals.

Dr. Perry is also an ad hoc reviewer for more than 60 journals and publishers, including Journal of Clinical Investigation, John Wiley Publishers, Lancet, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, Neurobiology of Aging, Elsevier Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Jack R. Wands, M.D. - Senior Member

Dr. Wands is a highly respected and internationally recognized scientist with more than 400 scientific publications, books, and abstracts. Dr. Wands is a Senior Consultant to the Company and Panacea's collaborator at Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

He is currently Chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at Lifespan Rhode Island Academic Medical Center, Director of the Liver Research Center, Professor of Medicine at Brown University School of Medicine, and Head of the Gastroenterology Section at Brown University.

Dr. Wands is an editorial board member of Hepatology, International Hepatology Communications, Journal of Viral Hepatitis, and Viral Hepatitis Reviews.

He is an editorial consultant to several outstanding journals including the Journal of Clinical Investigation, New England Journal of Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Infectious Disease, Gastroenterology, Journal of Virology, Virology, and Nature Medicine.

Dr. Wands has served as a consultant for nearly 20 years to both the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization.

D. Allan Butterfield, Ph.D.

Dr. Butterfield is currently Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Center of Membrane Sciences at the University of Kentucky as well as a Faculty Associate at the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

He has served as a consultant to the National Institute of Aging, NASA, National Science Foundation, Centaur Pharmaceuticals, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Dr. Butterfield was the recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, which was presented to him by President Bill Clinton.

He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is an editorial board member of the Journal of Membrane Science and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

Suzanne de la Monte, M.D.

Dr. de la Monte is a Special Consultant to the Company and Panacea's collaborator at Rhode Island Hospital/Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She is currently Associate Professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Pathobiology at Brown University School of Medicine/Rhode Island Hospital.

Previous appointments have included Associate Pathologist and Neuropathologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Associate Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. de la Monte is extremely active in the study of the etiology of brain diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and brain tumors, having published more than 250 scientific papers, book chapters, and abstracts.

Dr. de la Monte is an ad hoc journal reviewer for Neurology and an editorial board member of several outstanding journals including Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, Lab Investigation, and New England Journal of Medicine.

Lloyd G. Mitchell, M.D.

Dr. Mitchell is Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer of Intronn LLP, which is actively engaged in the research and development of Splicesome Mediated RNA Trans-splicing (SMaRT) Gene Therapy. This technology has applications to gene therapy, RNA repair, regulation of gene expression, genomics (identification of splice sites and introns), and gene knock out.

Prior to starting Intronn, Dr. Mitchell was affiliated with the George Washington University Medical Center, University of South Florida Medical Center, and the National Institutes of Health.

Mark A. Smith, Ph.D.

Dr. Smith is a Special Consultant for Alzheimer's Disease to the Company and Panacea's collaborator at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is an Associate Professor of Pathology in the Institute of Pathology. Dr. Smith is a highly active researcher exploring novel approaches in the study of the etiology of Alzheimer's disease.

He has pioneered research into cell cycle involvement in Alzheimer's disease and its use as a target for drug development. Dr. Smith has published over 300 scientific papers, book chapters/reviews, and abstracts.

He is an editorial board member of numerous journals, the Senior Editor for the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, and an ad hoc reviewer for many outstanding journals including American Journal of Pathology, CNS Drugs, Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Medicine, and Neuroscience.

Benjamin L. Wolozin, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Wolozin is the Company's collaborator at Loyola University School of Medicine in Maywood, Illinois, where he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacology. Previous appointments have included Staff Fellow, Section on Clinical Neuropharmacology, Laboratory of Clinical Science, National Institute of Mental Health of the National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Wolozin has been an active and ingenious contributor in the area of neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 100 scientific papers and abstracts and is an ad hoc reviewer for several prestigious journals including Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Nature Medicine, Neuroscience, Journal of Neurochemistry, and Journal of Neuroscience.

Dr. Wolozin has served as a consultant to Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

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 and cancer 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.