Press Release: Xcellerex Announces Appointment of Joseph Zakrzewski as CEO

Xcellerex Announces Appointment of Joseph Zakrzewski as CEO MARLBOROUGH, Mass. -- Xcellerex, Inc. announced today the appointment of Joseph Zakrzewski as Chief Executive Officer and a member of the company's board of directors. He joins Xcellerex after a nearly 20-year pharmaceutical industry career at Eli Lilly and Company and most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Reliant Pharmaceuticals. Mr. Zakrzewski succeeds Mike Masterson as part of a planned transition to the company's next stage of growth in commercializing its proprietary next generation manufacturing technology for biotherapeutics and vaccines. Mr. Masterson will remain active at Xcellerex as an advisor and member of the board of directors. "Joe brings an enormous range of commercial, corporate and business development experience coupled with an in-depth knowledge of biomanufacturing," said Thomas Monath, MD, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers and a member of Xcellerex's board of directors. "He is ideally suited to lead Xcellerex as it expands the commercialization of its proprietary disposable biomanufacturing systems through its contract manufacturing business, as well as its disposable bioreactor products and integrated manufacturing systems." "I would like to acknowledge the outstanding contributions Mike has made in building the Xcellerex organization, setting its strategy and strengthening its financial position," Dr. Monath added. "I am pleased he will remain an active advisor to the company and board member." "Xcellerex has developed a unique and highly innovative technology with extraordinary potential for application to biotherapeutics and vaccines," commented Joseph Zakrzewski. "I look forward to working with the team to advance Xcellerex's technology platforms to commercialize its services and products." At Reliant Pharmaceuticals, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular products, Mr. Zakrzewski had responsibility for the company's pharmaceutical operations, including supply chain/manufacturing, R&D, business development, IT, quality and compliance. He joined Reliant after more than 17 years with Eli Lilly and Company in a variety of capacities of increasing responsibility in research, manufacturing, finance and corporate business development. His most recent position at Lilly was Vice President, Corporate Business Development where he had global responsibility for business development activities. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Drexel University in chemical and biochemical engineering, respectively, and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Indiana. About Xcellerex, Inc. Xcellerex, Inc. provides next generation manufacturing services and systems for biotherapeutics and vaccines based on proprietary, single use, disposable component technology. The company's novel disposable, modular approach, which represents a new paradigm in biomanufacturing, dramatically enhances flexibility to make process changes quickly and enables manufacturing capacity to be deployed rapidly at significantly lower costs than traditional fixed facilities. Xcellerex's top quality contract manufacturing services include: cell line creation, process development and GMP manufacturing. The company's products and technology include the FlexFactory(TM) manufacturing system, a complete, turnkey, modular production train; XDR(TM) stirred tank disposable bioreactor systems at 1,000L working volume; XDM(TM) stirred tank mixing systems, and PDMax(TM), a high throughput process development service platform. Xcellerex is based in Marlborough, MA. Learn more about Xcellerex at www.xcellerex.com.