NEW YORK, July 31, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intra-Cellular Therapies, Inc. (Nasdaq:ITCI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) disorders, today announced the appointment of Michael Halstead as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In this role, Mr. Halstead will manage the legal affairs of the Company, and will report directly to Sharon Mates, Ph.D., CEO and Chairman of Intra-Cellular Therapies.
Mr. Halstead most recently served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at Warner Chilcott plc, where he directed the Corporate Development, Legal and Human Resources functions. During his tenure at Warner Chilcott, Mr. Halstead was responsible for the company's strategic transactions and played lead roles in its initial public offering, its acquisition of Procter & Gamble's global pharmaceutical business and the sale of the company to Actavis plc. He joined Warner Chilcott in 2005 and held positions of increasing responsibility before his promotion to Senior Vice President in 2011.
Commenting on the appointment of Mr. Halstead to this new position, Dr. Mates said, "We are very excited to have Michael join our team as General Counsel. His extensive legal background, as well as his significant leadership experience in our industry, will be invaluable as we continue to build the Company and advance the development of our product candidates."
Prior to Warner Chilcott, Mr. Halstead was an attorney in the New York corporate law group of Davis Polk & Wardwell, where he focused his practice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance and securities law compliance. Mr. Halstead received his bachelor's degree from Boston University and his Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law.
About Intra-Cellular Therapies
Intra-Cellular Therapies (the "Company") is developing novel drugs for the treatment of neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disease and other disorders of the central nervous system ("CNS"). The Company is developing its lead drug candidate, ITI-007, for the treatment of schizophrenia, behavioral disturbances in dementia, bipolar disorder and other neuropsychiatric and neurological disorders. In December 2013, the Company announced positive topline results from the Company's randomized, placebo- and active-controlled Phase 2 clinical trial of ITI-007 in patients with acutely exacerbated schizophrenia. This study showed a statistically significant improvement in symptoms associated with schizophrenia at the 60 mg dose on the trial's pre-specified primary endpoint and a favorable safety profile. The Company is exploring lower doses of ITI-007 for the treatment of behavioral disturbances in dementia and related disorders. ITI-007 is in a Phase 1/2 safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic clinical study in healthy geriatric subjects and in geriatric patients with dementia. The Company is also utilizing its phosphodiesterase ("PDE") platform and other proprietary chemistry platforms to develop drugs for the treatment of cognitive deficits in schizophrenia and other CNS disorders. The Company has partnered its lead PDE1 compound, ITI-214, and backups from this platform with the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. ITI-214 has finished the first Phase 1 clinical trial and is now in subsequent Phase 1 trials. The Company is also developing inhibitors against additional targets for CNS indications such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and depression and non-CNS indications such as cardiovascular disease.