Todd A. Creech Named Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Development for SARcode Corporation

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SARcode Corporation has named Todd Creech as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Business Development effective February 1, 2011. Creech has been fulfilling both positions as a consultant to SARcode since November 2010.  

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"Todd comes to SARcode with a wealth of experience in finance and leadership roles and has demonstrated great success in helping to drive positive results within this industry.  He will be a tremendous asset to SARcode as we continue to develop our lead compound, SAR 1118," said Quinton Oswald, Chief Executive Officer of SARcode Corporation. "His knowledge of ophthalmology and emerging biopharmaceutical companies will be extremely beneficial as we move forward. We are very excited to have Todd join our team."

Creech has over 11 years of executive experience in finance and business development in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, predominantly with early-stage companies.  Most recently, he served as Chief Financial Officer at Sirion Therapeutics, where he was responsible for financing strategy, accounting, capital structure, treasury, legal, and information technology.  Sirion raised over $100 million in debt and equity to support the license and development of six clinical programs, two of which were approved by the FDA and commercialized.  In the first half of 2010, Todd led the sale of Sirion's assets to Alcon and Bausch and Lomb.

Prior to his tenure at Sirion, Creech worked with NovaQuest, the investment group within Quintiles, Inc., structuring, placing and managing capital investments into emerging biotech and specialty pharmaceutical companies. Additionally, his past experience includes co-founding Centice, an optical sensor spin-out of Duke University, and over 10 years of consulting experience with start-up and Fortune 100 pharmaceutical, biotech, and high-tech companies while at SRI International and Andersen Consulting.  Creech holds bachelors degrees in finance and accounting from Miami University of Ohio and a MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

About Dry Eye Syndrome

Dry eye syndrome is a prevalent and often chronic condition estimated to affect approximately 20 million people in the U.S.  It is among the most common diseases treated by ophthalmologists throughout the world, and has been shown to have a significant impact upon quality of life.  Dry eye varies in severity and etiology, and symptoms most commonly manifest as discomfort, visual disturbances, and tear film instability due to decreased quality or quantity of tears. A major contributing factor towards the development of dry eye is inflammation caused by T-cell infiltration, proliferation and inflammatory cytokine production that can lead to reduction in tear film quality and ocular surface damage.

About SAR 1118

SAR 1118 is a potent novel small molecule lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) antagonist that can be targeted against a broad range of ocular inflammatory conditions including dry eye, uveitis, and diabetic macular edema. LFA-1 is member of the integrin family of adhesion receptors found on the surface of all leukocytes and represents a therapeutic target central to a number of inflammatory stimuli. SAR 1118 has demonstrated significant potency in inhibiting cell adhesion, cytokine production, and cellular proliferation in in vitro models.  In a recent Phase 2 dry eye trial, it demonstrated clear improvements in both signs and symptoms of dry eye as early as 12 weeks.

About SARcode Corporation

SARcode Corporation, founded in 2006, is venture-backed ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company based in San Francisco, CA.  SARcode's lead development program is a novel class of lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) antagonists for the treatment T-cell mediated inflammatory diseases.  Institutional investors include Alta Partners and Clarus Venture Partners. For more information, visit www.sarcode.com.

SOURCE SARcode Corporation