- Wiggins Joins from Biogen Idec -

SAN DIEGO, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that Mark Wiggins has joined the company as Chief Business Officer. Mr. Wiggins comes to Mpex from Biogen Idec, Inc. where he most recently served as Executive Vice President of Business Development, and was a member of the Executive Committee. At Mpex he will be focusing on commercial planning and business development activities related to the company's lead product, MP-376. MP-376 is an inhaled antibiotic which is being developed for use as a maintenance therapy for the prevention of exacerbations in cystic fibrosis (CF) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

During his 11 years at Biogen Idec and its predecessor Idec Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Wiggins was involved in a wide variety of commercial and business development activities. As Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Idec he was responsible for all aspects of marketing and reimbursement. He was also a member of the management committee for the collaboration with Genentech on Rituxan(R), a drug generating multi-billions of dollars annually and used for treating a number of cancer and autoimmune indications. As global head of business development for Biogen Idec, Mr. Wiggins and his team completed three acquisitions and more than 20 licensing/partnering transactions. Prior to his time with Biogen Idec, Mr. Wiggins held a number of senior positions in marketing and business development for Hybridon, Schering-Plough, Johnson&Johnson and Pfizer. Mr. Wiggins received his B.S. degree in finance from Syracuse University and an MBA from the University of Arizona.

"Mark's background in the industry spearheading highly successful deals and partnerships is impressive and we are delighted to have him join Mpex," said Daniel Burgess, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mpex Pharmaceuticals. "His deep experience in marketing will be key to us as we move towards commercialization with MP-376 and his expertise in structuring and managing complex collaborations will be invaluable as we are evaluating strategic commercialization options."

"I am excited to be joining Mpex at this critical time in the company's development," said Mark Wiggins. "I am very impressed with the progress Mpex has made in such a short time and believe there is a significant opportunity for MP-376 to become a therapy which can improve the quality of lives for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis or COPD. Exacerbations remain a significant problem in both of these diseases and MP-376 holds the promise of reducing the frequency of these events. As Mpex has retained global rights to MP-376 and the conclusion of the Phase II trials nears, I look forward to working with the rest of the management team to help Mpex achieve full potential for this new product opportunity."

About Mpex Pharmaceuticals

Mpex Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to develop important new therapies to combat the growing issue of antibiotic resistance. The company's internal development pipeline focuses on combining proprietary formulations, PK/PD strategies and novel potentiating agents with proven antibiotics to overcome or directly inhibit the molecular mechanisms in bacteria responsible for antibiotic resistance. Mpex's most advanced product candidate, MP-376, is a proprietary aerosol formulation of levofloxacin for nebulization that is being developed clinically as a maintenance therapy for the prevention of exacerbations in patients with cystic fibrosis and COPD. MP-376 is currently in Phase 2 studies for both indications. The company has also built a discovery and development platform and intellectual property estate around inhibitors of multi-drug resistant (MDR) efflux pumps (EPIs) found in many gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Bacterial efflux of antibiotics is a leading source of multi-drug resistance, particularly in gram-negative organisms. Mpex compounds have been shown in both in vitro and in vivo studies to overcome efflux-based resistance to multiple classes of antibiotics. In 2008 Mpex entered into a collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline focused on developing multiple drug candidates utilizing Mpex's EPI technology. Company website: www.mpexpharma.com.

SOURCE Mpex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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