NEW HAVEN, Conn., Aug. 20, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:ACHN), a leader in the discovery and development of small molecule drugs to combat the most challenging infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Nicholas Simon to its Board of Directors. Mr. Simon, who is Managing Director of Clarus Ventures LLC, brings extensive experience in biotechnology strategy development, business development, and product marketing. He will also serve on Achillion's Nominating and Governance Committee. Mr. Simon joins the Achillion Board following the resignation of James M. Garvey of SV Life Sciences.
"Nick Simon has a tremendous corporate development and marketing background, as well as a unique breadth of experience gained from guiding the development of numerous life science companies," commented Michael Kishbauch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Achillion. "I welcome Nick to the Achillion Board and look forward to his contributions as we advance our product pipeline in the near term, with the potential for three drug candidates to enter clinical trials in 2009."
Prior to co-founding Clarus Ventures, Mr. Simon was General Partner of MPM Capital, LLP from 2001 to 2005. Prior to MPM, Mr. Simon served as Chief Executive Officer of Collabra Pharma, Inc., held various senior business development positions with Genentech, Inc., including Vice President of Business and Corporate Development, and held various sales and marketing positions with companies including Xoma Corporation, Cooper BioMedical, Inc., Bethesda Research Laboratories, Inc., and Amersham Corporation. Mr. Simon currently serves on the boards of directors of publicly-traded biotechnology companies Aryx Therapeutics and Poniard, Inc., as well as privately-held biotechnology companies Pearl Therapeutics, QuatRx Pharmaceuticals, Sientra, Inc. and Verus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is a former board member of Deltagen, Inc., Intermume, Inc., Rigel, Inc. and Sangstat, Inc. Mr. Simon received a B.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Maryland and a M.B.A in marketing from Loyola University.
About Achillion
Achillion is an innovative pharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing important new treatments to patients with infectious disease. The company's proven discovery and development teams have advanced multiple product candidates with novel mechanisms of action. Achillion is focused on solutions for the most challenging problems in infectious disease -- HIV, hepatitis and resistant bacterial infections. For more information on Achillion Pharmaceuticals, please visit the company's web site at www.achillion.com or call Achillion at 1-203-624-7000. ACHN-G
This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, including statements with respect to the timing, completion and success of Achillion's preclinical studies and clinical trials of Achillion's drug candidates. Among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are: unexpected regulatory actions or delays; uncertainties relating to results of clinical trials, including additional data relating to ongoing clinical trials; Achillion's ability to obtain additional funding required to conduct its research, development and commercialization activities; Achillion's ability to enter into successful collaboration arrangements; Achillion's ability to obtain shareholder approval for its private placement financing, and Achillion's dependence on its collaboration with Gilead Sciences. These and other risks are described in the reports filed by Achillion with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007.