CAMBRIDGE, UK, 10 March 2006 - XENTION DISCOVERY LTD, an emerging pharmaceutical company specializing in ion channel drug discovery, announced today the appointment of Dr Kenneth T Cunningham and Professor Wolfgang Hartwig as Non-Executive Directors of the Company.

 

Dr Cunningham has many years experience in clinical development across a wide range of products.  He was recently appointed Chief Operating Officer at SkyePharma plc and was previously Chief Executive Officer of Arakis Ltd.  Prior to joining Arakis, he was Vice President of European Affairs at Alza International Inc and Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Director at Sequus Pharmaceuticals Inc.  Before moving to Sequus, he held a variety of management positions at Glaxo Wellcome and Warner Lambert in the areas of clinical development and commercial strategy.  He received medical training at St Mary’s Medical School and is a Member of the Royal College of Physicians and a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Physicians.

 

Professor Hartwig has broad experience of pharmaceuticals research and was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of Global Pharmaceuticals Research and Development at Bayer Healthcare.  He previously held a variety of positions within the Bayer Healthcare organization, including Head of Global Pharmaceuticals Research and Global Head of Bayer’s Diagnostics Division.  He has served on numerous management and advisory boards including the Senatausschuss of the Helmholtz Association, the National Genome Research Initiative, and boards of Onyx Pharmaceuticals and Millennium Pharmaceuticals.  He holds a doctoral degree in organic chemistry from the University of Göttingen and is Honorary Professor at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster.

 

“We are delighted to welcome Ken and Wolfgang as Non-Executive Directors,” commented Tim Brears, Xention’s Chief Executive.  “Ken has not only substantial experience in industry but also brings a clinical development perspective to our Board that will be very valuable as we progress products into the clinic.  Wolfgang brings many years of experience in commercial pharmaceuticals research at the highest level in industry.  We will benefit greatly from their involvement.”

 

- ENDS -

 

 

Tim Brears, (Chief Executive, Xention Discovery Ltd) and Christelle Kerouedan (Northbank Communications) will be attending the Biosquare conference in Geneva, Switzerland today.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Xention Discovery Ltd                                     

Tim Brears                                                 Tel:       +44 01223 493900

Chief Executive                                          Mobile: +44 07974 430536

                                                                Fax:      +44 01223 493901

                                                                E-Mail:  tim.brears@xention.com

 

 

Northbank Communications Ltd
Christelle Kerouedan                                 +44 20 7886 8150 – office +44 07939 132967– mobile

Annabel Entress                                       +44 20 7886 8150 – office                                         

                 

 

About Xention:

Xention Discovery Ltd is a drug discovery company that utilizes proprietary technologies to accelerate the development of novel ion channel drugs.  The Company uses true electrophysiological data and ion channel chemoinformatics to support medicinal chemistry and allow the development of drugs that are potent and selective and have preferred functional properties.  Xention, which was founded in 2002, is a leader in ion channel drug discovery and has a number of programs across various disease areas. For further information, please the website on www.xention.com