South San Francisco, California
June 10, 2003
Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq:
EXEL) announces that Steven P. James has been appointed senior
vice president, commercial operations. In this new position, Mr.
James will be responsible for managing and expanding the
company's business development and corporate development
activities, and developing a strategy for pre-commercial and
commercial operations. He will report directly to George A.
Scangos, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer.
Mr. James has over 20 years of
biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience. He joins Exelixis
from Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where he served most recently as
chief business officer. In addition to building the company's
highly successful business and corporate development program and
establishing several large pharmaceutical alliances, Mr. James
was responsible early on for developing Sunesis' operating plan,
establishing strategic planning and financial management
systems, as well as playing a key role in successful private
financings and serving as an early member of the board of
directors. Prior to Sunesis, Mr. James was vice president,
business development at Isis Pharmaceuticals where he was
responsible for a broad range of partnering activities and
cultivating new strategic opportunities for the company.
Mr. James previously held
business development, marketing and operational management
positions with Landec Corporation, California Biotechnology
(Scios Inc.) and Eli Lilly & Company. He holds a Bachelor's
degree in biology/neuroscience from Brown University and a
Master's degree in management, marketing and healthcare
management from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of
Management.
"Steve joins Exelixis at a very
exciting period in our evolution as a product-focused company,
and he will be instrumental in expanding our business operations
and strategies," said Dr. Scangos. "Exelixis has successfully
implemented an aggressive and creative corporate partnering
strategy, and has
established several important, broadly enabling collaborations
that have accelerated our growth and increased the productivity
of our drug discovery and development efforts. As our
development pipeline expands and matures, and as we continue to
strengthen and focus our pharmaceutical business, Steve's proven
track record in identifying new business opportunities and
cultivating and structuring R&D partnerships, combined with his
broad operational management and commercial experience, will add
to the depth and breadth of our executive team. We welcome him
as a colleague."
Exelixis, Inc. is a leading
genomics-based drug discovery company dedicated to the discovery
and development of novel therapeutics. The company is leveraging
its fully integrated gene-to-drug platform to fuel the growth of
its proprietary drug pipeline. Exelixis has established broad
corporate alliances with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and
Protein Design Labs. The company has also established
agricultural research collaborations with Bayer CropScience, Dow
Agrosciences and Renessen. Other partners include Merck,
Schering-Plough Research Institute, Cytokinetics, Elan and
Scios.
Exelixis and the Exelixis
logo are registered U.S. trademarks.
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