MDRNA Adds June D. Ameen to Management Team as Vice President, Corporate Development
BOTHELL, WA--(Marketwire - September 8, 2009) - MDRNA, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRNA) announced today that June D. Ameen, RN, MBA, will join the Company as Vice President, Corporate Development reporting to the President & CEO. Ms. Ameen will lead the alliance management, business development, technology evaluation and strategic partnering efforts for the Company.
"We are extremely pleased to have June join our management team," said Michael French, President and CEO at MDRNA. "Recently, we engaged a large pharmaceutical company in an early collaborative effort to demonstrate the broad capabilities of both our proprietary RNAi drug discovery engine and our world-class research team. We expect to enter into similar relationships in the near future. June brings the absolute right mix of strategic positioning and tactical execution necessary to expand these early collaborative efforts into significant multi-year, multi-target R&D collaborations. I look forward to working with June to establish these R&D collaborations as further validation of our industry leading RNAi-based therapeutics platform."
Ms. Ameen has held progressively responsible positions in both public and private life sciences companies for the past 20 years. Prior to joining MDRNA, Ms. Ameen served first as Vice President, Alliance Management and then Vice President, Business Development and Alliances of Entelos, Inc., a privately held systems biology company based in Foster City, California. While there, she was responsible for expanding the business from early-adopter technology-based research partnerships to therapeutic focused co-development collaborations with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. As Vice President, Business Development and Alliances, annual revenues increased from less than $3 million to over $21 million in two years. Prior to Entelos, Ms. Ameen was with PAREXEL International Corporation in several positions focused on client relations and alliance management. In her capacity as Vice President and General Manager, Ms. Ameen had operational and P&L responsibility for generating $35 million in annual revenues with Fortune 200 pharmaceutical companies. Ms. Ameen has an M.B.A. from Babson College and a B.S.N., magna cum laude, from Boston College.
About MDRNA, Inc.
MDRNA is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of therapeutic products based on RNA interference (RNAi). Our goal is to improve human health through the development of RNAi-based compounds and drug delivery technologies that together provide superior therapeutic options for patients. Over the past decade, we have developed substantial capabilities in molecular biology, cellular biology, lipid chemistry, peptide chemistry, pharmacology and bioinformatics, which we are applying to a wide range of RNAi technologies and delivery approaches. These capabilities plus the in-licensing of key RNAi-related intellectual property have rapidly enabled us to become a leading RNAi-based therapeutics company with a pre-clinical pipeline in key therapeutic areas including oncology, metabolic disorders and inflammation. Through our capabilities, expertise and know-how, we are incorporating multiple RNAi technologies as well as peptide- and lipid-based delivery approaches into a single integrated drug discovery platform that will be the engine for our clinical pipeline as well as a versatile platform for establishing broad therapeutic partnerships with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. We are also investing in new technologies that we expect to lead to safer and more effective RNAi-based therapeutics while aggressively building upon our broad and extensive intellectual property estate. By combining broad expertise in siRNA science with proven delivery platforms and a strong IP position, MDRNA is well positioned as a leading RNAi-based drug discovery and development company. Additional information about MDRNA, Inc. is available at http://www.mdrnainc.com.
MDRNA Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this news release may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Federal Securities laws that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties and involve factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: (i) the ability of MDRNA to obtain additional funding; (ii) the ability of MDRNA to attract and/or maintain manufacturing, research, development and commercialization partners; (iii) the ability of MDRNA and/or a partner to successfully complete product research and development, including preclinical and clinical studies and commercialization; (iv) the ability of MDRNA and/or a partner to obtain required governmental approvals; and (v) the ability of MDRNA and/or a partner to develop and commercialize products that can compete favorably with those of competitors. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in MDRNA's most recent periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MDRNA assumes no obligation to update and supplement forward-looking statements because of subsequent events.