Iconix Pharmaceuticals Names New Head of Business Development

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the leader in the expanding fields of toxico- and chemogenomics, today named Cate Sabatini to the position of executive vice president, Business Development. Ms Sabatini has extensive life science experience with an academic background in computer science and a career focus in the bioinformatics sector. At Iconix she will drive the commercial activities of the company as it continues to support current partners and attract new biopharmaceutical clients for its pioneering DrugMatrix and other products that enable early toxicology screening of drug compounds.

Ms Sabatini's background includes positions with Incyte where she was the director of product development and delivered the first genomic microbial database product, PathoSeq from concept to release in three months. Later, as vice president, Customer Relations she was responsible for account management, scientific and technical services and customer support. Prior to Incyte, Ms Sabatini was the manager of Information Systems at LSI Logic and a project manager for Clinical Systems at Syntex (Roche Group) where she helped design the industry leading clinical trials application, Oracle Clinical and validated clinical trials applications to ensure compliance with GLP, GMP, GCP and FDA and EC requirements.

Additionally, Ms Sabatini founded and lead Athena Consulting, where she focused on working with life science companies including: Genentech, Applera, Iconix and Align Technology in the areas of strategic planning, business development and sales and marketing.

"We are delighted to have Cate join Iconix and bring her notable commercial skills to the company," said Jim Neal, CEO, Iconix Pharmaceuticals. "With her background, Cate will add a depth and breadth of experience to multiple areas including product development and business relations to help ensure we are delivering to meet the high-performance needs of our toxicology customers."

About Iconix:

Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pioneering the new fields of toxico- and chemogenomics, the integration of chemistry and genomics to profile drug candidates. Iconix's technologies enable pharmaceutical companies to increase the odds of advancing the right compounds to the clinic, reducing attrition rates and the costs of drug discovery. Iconix provides reference systems and know-how to predict toxic liabilities, side effects and mechanisms of action for drug candidates. The company has collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, ICOS, Schering-Plough , AstraZeneca, Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd. and other leading companies. Iconix also provides research, training and support to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) under an agreement to advance CDER's study of the application of genomic technologies in the regulatory approval process. Iconix's DrugMatrix system has been installed at the FDA for use by CDER scientists and reviewers in a diverse range of chemogenomics applications. The company also has strategic partnerships with leading life sciences companies including MDS Pharma Services and GE Healthcare.

Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Iconix was founded in 1998 and is privately held. For more information, visit http://www.iconixpharm.com/.

CONTACT: Alan Engelberg of Iconix Pharmaceuticals, +1-650-567-5527, or aengelberg@iconixpharm.com; or Jennifer Larson, +1-415-946-1074, or jlarson@weisscommpartners.com, for Iconix Pharmaceuticals.