-Former Genzyme and Sanofi Senior Executive Brings Development and
Commercialization Experience-
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 10, 2013--
Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: IDRA) today announced the
appointment of James Geraghty to serve as a member of the Board of
Directors and also as its Chairman. Mr. Geraghty has held a wide range
of leadership positions during a 20-year career at Genzyme Corporation,
including substantial experience overseeing product development,
commercial launches, and strategic transactions. Mr. Geraghty also
served as a Senior Vice President of Sanofi SA following its acquisition
of Genzyme, and recently took on a role as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence
at Third Rock Ventures.
“It is my great pleasure to welcome Jim to Idera at this transformative
period. We believe that the recently announced results of our clinical
trials with Toll-like Receptor (TLR) antagonist drug candidates provide
proof-of-concept for TLR antagonism as a novel approach to the treatment
of psoriasis and potentially other autoimmune and inflammatory
diseases,” said Dr. Sudhir Agrawal, Chief Executive Officer of Idera. “I
believe that the addition of Jim and his extensive experience comes at
an ideal moment, and we look forward to his guidance and contributions
as we advance our programs toward later stage development.”
“Idera has established a clear leadership position in TLR research, and
has generated very promising development candidates. I believe these
candidates are poised to make important contributions to patients with
serious diseases, and look forward to working with the entire Idera team
to bring these TLR candidates through clinical development and to
market,” said Mr. James Geraghty.
James Geraghty is a life sciences industry leader. Currently an
Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Third Rock Ventures, Jim served as Senior
Vice President, North America Strategy and Business Development at
Sanofi, where he was a member of the Office of the CEO. Prior to
Sanofi's acquisition Jim spent 20 years at Genzyme Corporation, most
recently as Senior Vice President, and helped Genzyme introduce rare
disease therapies around the world. His roles included President of
Genzyme Europe, where he oversaw several new product launches, and
General Manager of Genzyme's cardiovascular business, where he guided
the development of a recently approved antisense product. He also led
strategic transactions that brought important new products into Genzyme,
as well as divestitures valued at over $1 billion. He was previously
Chairman, President and CEO of Genzyme Transgenics Corporation (later
GTC Biotherapeutics), which he founded and took public. Jim served as
co-chair of the executive committee for BIO 2007, was for a number of
years a member of the board of Bluebird Bio, and continues to serve on
the board of Bio Ventures for Global Health (BVGH). A graduate of the
Yale Law School, he has published articles in the Yale Law Journal,
Health Affairs and elsewhere. He holds an MS from the University of
Pennsylvania and a BA from Georgetown University.
About TLRs and Idera's Pipeline
Toll-like Receptors (TLRs) play a key role in immunity and inflammation.
Using a chemistry-based approach, Idera has created compounds targeted
to endosomal TLRs 3, 7, 8, and 9. In autoimmune diseases, immune
complexes containing host DNA/RNA activate TLRs 7, 8, and 9, which
induce multiple cytokines that further exacerbate the disease.
Inhibition of these TLRs is a novel approach for the potential treatment
of autoimmune diseases. IMO-8400 is an antagonist of TLRs 7, 8, and 9,
and has shown therapeutic activity in preclinical models of psoriasis,
lupus, and arthritis. Our proof-of-concept Phase 2 trial of TLR
antagonism in patients with psoriasis using a TLR7 and 9 antagonist,
IMO-3100, showed PASI score improvements which correlated with
significant improvement in psoriasis disease associated gene profile,
including downregulation of the IL-17 pathway.
About Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Idera Pharmaceuticals applies its proprietary Toll-like receptor (TLR)
drug discovery platform to create immunomodulatory drug candidates and
is conducting clinical development in autoimmune and inflammatory
diseases. Additionally, Idera has a collaboration with Merck & Co. for
the use of TLR-targeted candidates as vaccine adjuvants. For more
information, visit http://www.iderapharma.com.
Idera Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Idera
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that involve a number of risks and uncertainties.
For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not
statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking
statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "should,"
"could," "will," "may," and similar expressions are intended to identify
forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that
could cause Idera's actual results to differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements, including whether Idera’s
cash resources will be sufficient to fund the Company’s continuing
operations and the further development of the Company’s autoimmune
disease program including future clinical trials of IMO-8400; whether
results obtained in preclinical studies and early clinical trials will
be indicative of results obtained in future clinical trials; whether
products based on Idera's technology will advance into or through the
clinical trial process on a timely basis or at all and receive approval
from the United States Food and Drug Administration or equivalent
foreign regulatory agencies; whether, if the Company's products receive
approval, they will be successfully distributed and marketed; whether
the Company's collaboration with Merck & Co, Inc., will be successful;
and such other important factors as are set forth under the caption
"Risk Factors" in Idera's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter
ended March 31, 2013, which important factors are incorporated herein by
reference. Idera disclaims any intention or obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
Source: Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Lou Arcudi, 617-679-5517
larcudi@iderapharma.com
