Osprey Pharmaceuticals Names Jack M. Anthony as CEO

Co-Founder Phil Coggins to Continue as President and CSO

    MONTREAL and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Osprey
 Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., a privately held biotechnology company developing
 first-in-class Leukocyte Population Modulators (LPMs) for serious, chronic
 diseases, announced today the appointment of Jack M. Anthony to Chief
 Executive Officer. Dr. Philip Coggins, who previously held the position of
 CEO will continue as President and assume the new role of Chief Scientific
 Officer. Mr. Anthony will be based in San Francisco, where Osprey has
 located most administrative functions, while concentrating its laboratory
 and R&D operations in Montreal, Canada.
     "I am pleased to announce that Jack will take the helm of Osprey
 Pharmaceuticals and assume additional responsibilities as CEO," said Philip
 Coggins, President and co-founder of Osprey. "Looking at the powerhouse of
 talent assembled at Osprey, this transition is a 'no-brainer,' and as a
 neurochemist I'm qualified to say that. With Jack as CEO and with the
 recent addition of Dr. Barbara Finck as Chief Medical Officer, we have the
 key individuals in place to take Osprey to the next level."
     "These changes will best leverage the extensive experience and track
 record of the senior management team at Osprey," said Janice LeCocq,
 Chairman of the Board. "This time next year we expect to have the first
 clinical proof of concept of our LPMs in the treatment of renal disease
 (glomerulonephritis, or GN). By validating a new treatment modality, we
 expect to open up a broad array of other clinical targets, building towards
 clinical and commercial success."
     Mr. Anthony began his career in healthcare with Baxter Healthcare and
 served the company for over 16 years, rising through the ranks to become
 Vice President in the Blood Therapy Group. In the 20 years since Baxter, he
 has held various senior executive positions in a number of biotechnology
 companies including Applied Immune Sciences (now part of Sanofi-Aventis),
 Inhale (now Nektar), FibroGen and Tularik (acquired by Amgen). Mr. Anthony
 was also CEO of Pharmix, a computational chemistry company in the San
 Francisco area. Most recently, Mr. Anthony served as Osprey's Senior Vice
 President, Corporate Development.
     "This is an exciting time for us as we plan to enter clinical testing
 with our first product early next year and forge key partnerships around
 specific fusion proteins emerging from our LPM platform," said Mr. Anthony.
 "I believe we are in an incredibly strong position to manage multiple
 clinical trials as we advance our development pipeline and to engage
 experienced partners where a strategic collaboration is the best means to
 achieve late-stage development and commercialization."
     About Osprey Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
     Osprey Pharmaceuticals is a privately held biotechnology company
 focused on developing and commercializing a first-in-class family of
 therapeutic proteins (Leukocyte Population Modulators) capable of treating
 chronic diseases. Osprey's broad technology platform is based on the
 critical insight that many common diseases are propagated by overabundant
 and overactive leukocytes. The company's proprietary LPMs selectively and
 systematically destroy disease-related leukocytes by infiltrating the
 chemokine system that regulates the movement and activity of leukocytes.
 The company expects to initiate its first Phase Ib trial for chronic kidney
 disease in early 2008.
     Osprey has a highly productive R&D engine and has developed a portfolio
 of 12 preclinical product candidates addressing a variety of diseases
 including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disorders. The
 company anticipates initiating at least one clinical trial annually over
 the next three years. Osprey minimizes the risks inherent in drug
 development by using a technology with the capability to address immune
 system dysfunction system- wide, and then uniformly applying standardized
 testing and manufacturing protocols across its portfolio. Osprey
 Pharmaceuticals is based in Montreal, Canada and can be found online at
 www.ospreypharma.com .
     Contacts:
     Jack M. Anthony
     CEO
     anthony@ospreypharma.com
 
     Justin Jackson or John Cummings of Burns McClellan on behalf of Osprey
     jjackson@burnsmc.com
     jcummings@burnsmc.com
     Tel: 212-213-0006
 
     Robert Wagstaff
     Vice President, Finance
     wagstaff@ospreypharma.com
     Tel: 514-336-3118
 
 

SOURCE Osprey Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.