NEW HAVEN, Conn., Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Rib-X” or the “Company”), a development-stage company focused on the discovery and development of novel antibiotics for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections, today announced that Joseph Amprey, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors, succeeding David Mott. Mr. Mott, formerly with MedImmune and MedImmune Ventures, is also continuing as an Independent Director of the Company. Rib-X’s board now consists of 10 members.
“We are extremely pleased that Joe Amprey has joined the Rib-X Board,” said Dr. Susan Froshauer, President and Chief Executive Officer, Rib-X. “Joe brings an impressive level of experience in the financial sector that will be crucial as the Company grows and continues to move products through the development pipeline. Additionally, we are most grateful to David for the commitment he has made to Rib-X since joining our board in 2007 and look forward to benefiting from his ongoing guidance.”
Dr. Amprey is Senior Managing Director at MedImmune Ventures, a venture capital fund wholly owned by MedImmune, LLC and he has primary responsibility for overseeing the fund’s operations. He has been with MedImmune Ventures since 2006 and sits on the MedImmune Ventures investment committee, as well as on the boards of portfolio companies Synovex and NKT Therapeutics. Prior to joining MedImmune, Dr. Amprey worked at Carrot Capital HealthCare Ventures. He earned his M.D. and Ph.D. in Immunology from Cornell University in New York, and his B.A. in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.
David Mott joined the Rib-X board in 2007. Mr. Mott was the Chief Executive Officer of MedImmune, a position he held from October 2000 until he departed the organization in July 2008. Mr. Mott joined MedImmune in 1992 as Vice President and held positions of increasing responsibility including Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and President. He also founded MedImmune Ventures and served as Chairman of its Investment Committee. Prior to joining MedImmune, Mr. Mott was a Vice President in the Health Care Investment Banking Group at Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co., Inc. Mr. Mott is a member of the Board of Directors of Shire plc and also serves on the Boards of Directors for the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and St. Albans School. He has previously served on the boards of Conceptis Technologies, Ambit Biosciences, the Technology Council of Maryland, MdBio and a number of non-profits. He attended Dartmouth College, where he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and government.
About Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Rib-X Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a product-driven small molecule drug discovery and development company focused on the structure-based design of new classes of antibiotics. The Company’s underlying drug discovery engine capitalizes on its proprietary high-resolution crystal structure of the ribosome, which performs an essential role in the fundamental process of protein synthesis. Many known, commercially valuable antibiotics bind to the ribosome, including those used to treat both community-acquired and hospital- acquired pathogens. The Company’s integrated research strategy, which combines state of the art, proprietary computational analysis, X-ray crystallography, medicinal chemistry, microbiology and biochemistry, allows it to rapidly synthesize new agents designed to avoid typical antibiotic resistance mechanisms. Rib-X’s iterative intelligent engine has yielded several distinctive new antibiotic classes. The Company currently has two programs in human clinical trials, the radezolid (RX-1741) designer oxazolidinone program as an oral/IV agent to treat serious hospital Gram-positive infections and the delafloxacin, (RX-3341) program, a next generation fluoroquinolone, active against a broad spectrum of bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Additionally, the Company has multiple drug discovery programs. The first of these is an exciting discovery program that is well on its way toward the identification of new chemical classes of antibiotics active against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative bacteria in the hospital. The second of these programs is focused on design and development of an IV and orally active macrolide for treatment of infections in the nursing home and hospital setting, including those caused by MRSA and enterococci. Radezolid and the multiple discovery programs derive from Rib-X’s proprietary use of the ribosome structure and computational tools.
For more information on the ribosome and the Rib-X mission, please visit the Company website at www.rib-x.com.
CONTACT: Investors, John Capodanno, +1-212-850-5705,
john.capodanno@fd.com, or media, Irma Gomez-Dib, +1-212-850-5761,
irma.gomez-dib@fd.com, both of FD Life Sciences for Rib-X Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.
Web site: http://www.rib-x.com/
