Idera Pharmaceuticals Appoints Sudhir Agrawal as Chairman of Board of Directors and William S. Reardon as Lead Director
Dr. James Wyngaarden retires as Chairman
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 29, 2010 - Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IDRA) today announced that Dr. Sudhir Agrawal has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors and William S. Reardon has been appointed Lead Director. Dr. James Wyngaarden has retired as Chairman of the Board after 10 years of dedicated service in this role and will continue to serve as a member of the Board.
"I have had the honor of serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the past ten years and have observed the significant accomplishments of the company under the scientific and strategic leadership of Sudhir Agrawal," said James Wyngaarden, M.D. "I look forward to making continued contributions to the Idera Board as the company advances its pipeline of novel drug candidates."
"On behalf of Idera's Board of Directors and management team, I offer Jim our most heartfelt thanks for his leadership and vision, which have helped to direct Idera in its successful translation of promising scientific research into a pipeline of TLR-targeted drug development candidates addressing a broad range of diseases. We look forward to Dr. Wyngaarden's continued contributions as a Director," commented Dr. Agrawal.
Dr. Agrawal joined the company in 1990 and has served in various capacities, most recently as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer. His new title is Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.
William Reardon, C.P.A. joined Idera's Board in 2002. He led the Life Science Industry Practice of New England and the Eastern U.S. as an audit Partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP where he worked with many public life science companies. He also worked closely with Securities and Exchange Commission staff as an SEC Consulting Partner for PwC. He currently serves on the board of Synta Pharmaceuticals and is a trustee of the Board of H&Q Healthcare Investors and H&Q Life Sciences Investors, two closed-end mutual funds.
About Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Idera Pharmaceuticals is developing drug candidates that act by modulating immune responses through specific Toll-like Receptors (TLRs). TLRs, a family of immune system receptors and the immune system's first line of defense, recognize pathogens and initiate an immune response. Idera's DNA and RNA chemistry expertise has generated a pipeline of compounds designed to interact with specific TLRs for a broad range of diseases. Through its internal pipeline and collaborative alliances, Idera has established a portfolio of TLR-targeted therapeutic candidates for infectious diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, cancer, and respiratory diseases, and for use as vaccine adjuvants.
Idera Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "should," "could," "will," "may," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Idera's actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including whether results obtained in preclinical studies and early clinical trials will be indicative of results obtained in future clinical trials; whether products based on Idera's technology will advance into or through the clinical trial process on a timely basis or at all and receive approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies; whether, if the Company's products receive approval, they will be successfully distributed and marketed; whether the Company's collaborations will be successful; whether the patents and patent applications owned or licensed by the Company will protect the Company's technology and prevent others from infringing it; whether Idera's cash resources will be sufficient to fund the Company's operations; and such other important factors as are set forth under the caption "Risk Factors" in Idera's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2010, which important factors are incorporated herein by reference. Idera disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
Contact: Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Teri Dahlman, 617-679-5519
[email protected]
or
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Chris Erdman, 781-235-3060
[email protected]