ChemoCentryx Appoints Geoffrey M. Parker to Company's Board of Directors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- ChemoCentryx, Inc., announced today that the Company has appointed Geoffrey M. Parker to the Company's Board of Directors, effective immediately.  Mr. Parker is Chief Business Officer of InteKrin Therapeutics, Inc. and previously served as Managing Director and Partner in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. From 1997 to 2009, Mr. Parker directed Goldman Sachs' West Region Healthcare Investment Banking practice, advising many leading biotechnology companies and is well known for his expertise in business and finance within the healthcare sector. In conjunction with Mr. Parker's appointment, Regina Herzlinger will step down from the ChemoCentryx Board. The total number of Board members remains the same.

"We are pleased to welcome Mr. Parker to our Board of Directors at this important next stage in the Company's development," stated Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of ChemoCentryx.  "Since our founding, one of our strengths has been in the quality of individuals of which our board is composed and Mr. Parker certainly continues this tradition.  As a highly respected and seasoned executive within the biotechnology industry, we look forward to his input and guidance as we advance our pipeline of chemokine-based therapies into late-stage clinical testing. We would also like to thank Regi for her contributions to the Company during the years that she served as a member of the board."

"I am truly honored and excited about joining the ChemoCentryx Board of Directors," said Geoffrey Parker.  "I look forward to working with my fellow board members and the ChemoCentryx management team to bring innovative approaches to patients suffering from inflammatory disorders."

About ChemoCentryx

ChemoCentryx, Inc., is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing orally-administered therapeutics that target the chemokine and chemoattractant systems in order to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer. The chemokine system is a network of secreted chemokine molecules, or ligands, and cell surface receptors that regulates inflammation. Based on its proprietary drug discovery and drug development platform, ChemoCentryx has internally generated multiple clinical and preclinical-stage programs, each targeting distinct chemokine and chemoattractant receptors with different small molecule compounds. ChemoCentryx's lead compound, Traficet-EN, a specific CCR9 antagonist, completed a Phase II/III multi-national clinical trial, called PROTECT-1, in patients with moderate-to-severe Crohn's disease. CCX025, also a CCR9 antagonist, successfully concluded a Phase I clinical program. Additional clinical programs include CCX140, which targets the CCR2 receptor, expected to enter Phase II clinical development in the first quarter of 2010 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and CCX354, a CCR1 antagonist in a Phase II clinical trial for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. ChemoCentryx also has several programs in preclinical development. ChemoCentryx is privately held. For more information, please refer to www.chemocentryx.com.

Any statements in this press release about ChemoCentryx's expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and are forward-looking statements. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as may, believe, will, expect, anticipate, estimate, intend, predict, seek, potential, continue, plan, should, could and would or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement. Some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to (i) the initiation, timing, progress and results of ChemoCentryx's preclinical studies and clinical trials, (ii) ChemoCentryx's ability to advance product candidates into clinical trials, (iii) GSK's exercise of its license options, (iv) the commercialization of ChemoCentryx's product candidates, (v) the implementation of ChemoCentryx's business model, strategic plans for its business, product candidates and technology, (vi) ChemoCentryx's ability to maintain and establish collaborations or obtain additional government grant funding, (vii) ChemoCentryx's estimates of its expenses, future revenues, capital requirements and its needs for additional financing, (viii) the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, (ix) the availability of corporate partners, (x) the scope of protection ChemoCentryx is able to establish and maintain for intellectual property rights covering its product candidates and technology, (xi) the impact of competitive products and technological changes, (xii) the availability of capital and the cost of capital, (xiii) ChemoCentryx's financial performance, (xiv) developments relating to ChemoCentryx's competitors and other vagaries in the biotechnology industry and (xv) other risks.

You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and ChemoCentryx undertakes no obligation to revise or update this press release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof. This caution is made under the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

SOURCE ChemoCentryx, Inc.