Onyx Pharmaceuticals Appoints Ted W. Love, M.D., as Head of Research & Development

EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) today announced that it has appointed Ted W. Love, M.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development.  In addition, Michael Kauffman, M.D., Ph.D., who has served as Interim Chief Medical Officer since November 2009, has been appointed Chief Medical Officer reporting to Dr. Love.  

In his new role, Dr. Love will report to the Chief Executive Officer and will be responsible for managing the research and development organization, including preclinical and clinical programs, regulatory affairs, quality assurance and control, and safety.  Dr. Kauffman, in addition to partnering with Dr. Love across the company's portfolio, will continue to play a lead role in the clinical development of Onyx's pipeline of next-generation proteasome inhibitors, including carfilzomib, which is currently in a Phase 2b trial for relapsed, refractory multiple myeloma.

"Ted is a strategic thinker with broad leadership and management experience and a track record of developing some of the most successful cancer therapies, making him the ideal person to lead our research and development program of innovative oncology candidates," said N. Anthony Coles, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Onyx.  "Together, Ted and Michael bring highly complementary experience that spans solid tumor and hematologic cancers, and multiple drug classes and molecular pathways.  These appointments empower Onyx with world class R&D leadership as we deliver on our vision to transform the lives of cancer patients and their families with innovative new medicines."

"Onyx has an established track record of success and a strong pipeline that could offer tremendous advances for patients and oncologists," said Dr. Love.  "In addition to late-stage opportunities with Nexavar and carfilzomib, Onyx has acquired rights to a number of exciting earlier stage compounds that target some of the most innovative pathways in drug development.  I look forward to partnering with Michael and the rest of the team to advance these novel molecules."

Most recently, Dr. Love was President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the biotechnology company Nuvelo, Inc.  He grew Nuvelo into a late-stage development company focused on acute cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other debilitating medical conditions.  Before joining Nuvelo in 2001, he served as Senior Vice President of Development at Theravance, Inc.  Previously, Dr. Love spent six years at Genentech, Inc. in a number of senior management positions in Medical Affairs and Product Development.  As Vice President of Product Development and Regulatory Affairs at Genentech, Dr. Love oversaw all drugs in development including Herceptin, Rituxan, and TNKase.  He also served as chairman of Genentech's Product Development Committee.

Dr. Love earned his bachelor's degree in molecular biology from Haverford College and his medical degree at Yale Medical School.  He completed his residency and fellowship training in internal medicine and cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  Following residency training, Dr. Love joined the faculty of Massachusetts General in the department of cardiology.  He currently serves on the board of directors of Affymax, Inc., Santarus, Inc., ARCA biopharma, Inc., and on the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) Independent Citizens' Oversight Committee.

Dr. Kauffman joined Onyx in November 2009 as Interim Chief Medical Officer.  Most recently, Dr. Kauffman was Chief Medical Officer at Proteolix, Inc. where he was responsible for the clinical advancement of carfilzomib as well as their other pipeline candidates.  Previously, Dr. Kauffman was President and Chief Executive Officer of EPIX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (previously Predix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) from 2002 to 2008.  From 1997 to 2002, he held a number of senior medical and program leadership positions at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he played a key role in the development of the proteasome inhibitor VELCADE®.  Earlier in his career, he served as Medical Director at Biogen Corporation (now Biogen Idec).  Dr. Kauffman earned his undergraduate degree in biochemistry from Amherst College and his M.D. and Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemistry from Johns Hopkins.  He trained in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

About Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company committed to improving the lives of people with cancer.  The company, in collaboration with Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is developing and marketing Nexavar® (sorafenib) tablets, a small molecule drug that is currently approved for the treatment of liver cancer and advanced kidney cancer.  Additionally, Nexavar is being investigated in several ongoing trials in a variety of tumor types.  Beyond Nexavar, Onyx has established a development pipeline of anticancer compounds at various stages of clinical testing, including carfilzomib, a next-generation proteasome inhibitor, that is currently being evaluated in multiple clinical trials for the treatment of patients with relapsed or relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and solid tumors, and ONX 0801, a targeted alpha-folate inhibitor, currently in Phase 1 testing.  For more information about Onyx, visit the company's website at www.onyx-pharm.com.

Nexavar® (sorafenib) tablets is a registered trademark of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" of Onyx within the meaning of the federal securities laws.  These forward-looking statements include without limitation, statements regarding the  clinical development of Nexavar, carfilzomib and Onyx's other product candidates, and Drs. Love and Kauffman's anticipated contributions to Onyx.  These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those anticipated, including risks related to the development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products.  Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.  Reference should be made to Onyx's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the heading "Risk Factors" and Onyx's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for a more detailed description of such factors.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements that speak only as of the date of this release.  Onyx undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events, or circumstances after the date of this release except as required by law.

SOURCE Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.