SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Exelixis today announced changes in its senior management team. Dr. Michael Morrissey, formerly Executive Vice President of Discovery, has been promoted to President of Research and Development, and Lupe Rivera has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Human Resources and Communication. Dr. Jeffrey Latts, formerly Executive Vice President of Development, has decided to retire.
"Jeff Latts has led Exelixis development for the past 6 years, and has played an instrumental role in our success," said George Scangos, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Exelixis. "Jeff has been a great asset and a wonderful colleague, with a wealth of experience and a great understanding of clinical development. I want to thank him for all of his contributions, and wish him all the best in his retirement. We look forward to tapping into his expertise in the future. Dr. Morrissey's well-deserved promotion now gives him responsibility for leading all discovery and development activities within Exelixis. Mike has led our drug discovery effort since his arrival in 2000, and has built a world-class organization that has demonstrated its ability to efficiently and repeatedly bring high- quality compounds into development. Since his arrival, Exelixis has filed 10 INDs and we anticipate continuing to file approximately 3 INDs per year as we move forward."
"Exelixis has an exciting pipeline of compounds in development, each specifically optimized to inhibit key molecular targets and pathways that are disregulated in human cancer," said Dr. Morrissey. "The integration of our discovery and development groups into one seamless organization will facilitate translation of the strong molecular and genetic rationale underpinning the preclinical pharmacology of our compounds into the clinical setting. In particular, it will allow complete integration of robust pharmacodynamic and genetic testing into our clinical trials to support selection of optimal dosing regimes and patient populations. I look forward to working with our entire R&D organization to rapidly advance our portfolio of novel drugs through clinical development to the ultimate benefit of patients everywhere."
About Exelixis
Exelixis, Inc. is a development-stage biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases. The company is leveraging its fully integrated drug discovery platform to fuel the growth of its development pipeline, which is primarily focused on cancer. Currently, Exelixis' broad product pipeline includes investigational compounds in Phase II and Phase I clinical development for cancer and renal disease. Exelixis has established strategic corporate alliances with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Genentech, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Sankyo. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.exelixis.com.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, all statements related to the company's ability to file three INDs per year. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends," "will," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon Exelixis' current expectations. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Exelixis' actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation, the ability of the company to advance preclinical compounds into clinical development; the uncertainty of the FDA approval process; and the therapeutic and commercial value of the company's compounds. These and other risk factors are discussed under "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in Exelixis' quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2006 and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Exelixis expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.
SOURCE Exelixis, Inc.