Dr Peter Ringrose joins Astex Board
Cambridge, UK, February 1 2005.
Astex Technology, the fragment-based drug discovery and development company, today announced the appointment of Dr Peter Ringrose to its Board. Dr Ringrose brings more than 30 years of pharmaceutical industry experience and will strengthen Astex’s board as the Company prepares to take the first of its oncology drugs into the clinic during 2005.
Tim Haines, Chief Executive of Astex said, "I am very pleased that Peter has accepted our invitation to join the Astex Board. His track record in overseeing the research and development strategies of a number of global pharmaceutical companies and his in-depth understanding of the needs of the industry will be of immense help and value to Astex. This Board appointment is a very important addition to the expertise of the Company at this defining stage in our development."
Peter Ringrose commented: "I am delighted to be joining the Astex Board at this point in Astex’s evolution. The Company’s pipeline is at a particularly exciting stage, with the first of its oncology drugs rapidly moving towards clinical development. I look forward to working with the Board and the Management Team."
After 32 years in the pharmaceutical industry in Europe and the USA, Dr Peter Ringrose recently retired as Chief Scientific Officer of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and President of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute where he was responsible for the discovery, preclinical and clinical development of pharmaceutical products worldwide. Previously he was Senior Vice President and Head of Pfizer Central Research Europe. In addition, Dr Ringrose was responsible for Pfizer’s global drug discovery and for the teams that discovered and developed many important new drug molecules including Viagra. Prior to this he held positions at Sandoz Research Institute and Roche. Peter has served, and continues to serve, on a number of scientific and educational advisory committees. In particular, he is Chair of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences. He was an Advisory Board Member of the Centre for Medicines Research International and is currently a non-executive director of Cambridge Antibody Technology, a Pitt Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge and a member of the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences.
About Astex
Astex is a biotechnology company producing novel small molecule therapeutics. Using its pioneering fragment-based drug discovery approach, Astex has rapidly established a broad pipeline of next generation, molecularly targeted oncology drugs, the first of which will enter clinical trials in 2005.
Astex’s leading position in fragment-based drug discovery derives from its integrated discovery engine, Pyramid™. High-throughput X-ray crystallography and other biophysical techniques are used to identify drug fragments bound to target proteins and to help in directing the transformation of the fragments, using efficient medicinal chemistry, into potent, selective drugs. Pyramid™ has been successfully applied across a wide variety of therapeutic targets, including those regarded as ‘intractable’ by the pharmaceutical industry, resulting in potential new drug leads for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and Alzheimer’s disease.
Astex’s unprecedented productivity in lead discovery has been endorsed by drug discovery alliances with major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Aventis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Company Ltd., Mitsubishi Pharma and Schering AG. Astex was established in 1999 and is well financed by leading, blue chip US and European investors (Abingworth, Advent International, Alta Partners, Apax, GIMV, HypoVereinsbank, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Schering AG and the University of Cambridge).
For further information on Astex please visit the Company’s website at www.astex-technology.com