Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Alnylam venture Regulus adds Papadopoulos to board

By Mass High Tech Staff

Regulus Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture between Cambridge biotech firm Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. of California, has appointed Stelios Papadopoulos to its board of directors.

Regulus Therapeutics discovers, develops and commercializes microRNA-based therapeutics.

Papadopoulos joins Regulus after retiring from six years as vice chairman of Cowen and Company, where he served the biotechnology and pharmaecutical sectors as an investment banker. Prior to Cowen and Company, he served the biotech industry again as an investment banker, at PaineWebber Inc. His early career was marked by a teaching stint in the Department of Cell Biology at New York University Medical Center, where he currently maintains an adjunct associate professor title. Currently, he holds board positions at Biogen Idec Inc., Exelixis Inc. and BG Medicine Inc., while also serving as director and co-founder of Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Cellzome Inc.

Papadopoulos graduated from New York University with a Ph.D. in biophysics and an M.B.A. in finance.

The announcement comes on the heels of Regulus Therapeutics’ recent appointment of Garry Menzel as executive vice president of corporate development and finance. Menzel served as managing director at Credit Suisse, working for biotech and pharmaceutical clients, and prior to that, as managing director and founding member of the Healthcare Group at Goldman Sachs. Previously, Menzel was a strategy consultant for Boston-based Bain & Co., working on a variety of projects in Europe and Asia.

In April, Regulus announced that it had formed an alliance with British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC to develop and commercialize Regulus’ microRNA treatments for inflammatory diseases. The GSK deal includes $20 million in initial payments and up to $144.5 million in milestone fees for each of the four treatments developed through the alliance.

MicroRNA treatments are intended to regulate the expression of certain genes to treat diseases, according to Regulus. Carlsbad, Calif.-based Regulus was formed in 2007 with funding and intellectual property from Alnylam (Nasdaq: ALNY) and Isis.

Alnylam develops RNA-interference drugs and Isis is focused on RNA-based, antisense treatments.