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PDL BioPharma, Inc.: David Parkinson, M.D. Elected to Facet Biotech's Board of Directors

^{Published on 2008-12-04 18:00:37 - Market Wire}
 

REDWOOD CITY, CA--(Marketwire - December 4, 2008) - PDL BioPharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: [ PDLI ]) today announced the election of David Parkinson, M.D., as a member of the board of directors of Facet Biotech Corporation, the biotechnology company PDL plans to spin off into a separate, publicly-held company, effective on or about December 18, 2008.

"We are pleased to have a scientist and clinician of David's caliber join Facet's board of directors," said Brad Goodwin, chairperson of PDL's board of directors. "David's experience in oncology research and drug development will be invaluable as we focus our efforts to establish Facet as an exciting and promising biotech company."

Since September 2007, Dr. Parkinson has served as President and CEO of Nodality, Inc., a South San Francisco, California-based biotechnology company focused on the biological characterization of signaling pathways in patients with malignancy to enable more effective therapeutics development and clinical decision-making. From 2006 to 2007, Dr. Parkinson served as Senior Vice President, Oncology Research and Development, at Biogen Idec, Inc. where he oversaw all of Biogen's oncology discovery research efforts and the development of its oncology pipeline. From 2003 to 2006, Dr. Parkinson served as Vice President, Oncology Development, at Amgen Inc. From 1997 to 2003, Dr. Parkinson served as Vice President, Global Clinical Oncology Development, at Novartis. During his tenures at Amgen and Novartis, Dr. Parkinson was responsible for clinical development activities leading to a series of successful global drug registrations for important cancer therapeutics, including Gleevec®, Femara®, Zometa®, Kepivance®, and Vectibix®.

Dr. Parkinson worked at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) from 1990 to 1997, serving as Chief of the Investigational Drug Branch, then as Acting Associate Director of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program, before leaving for Novartis. Prior to the NCI, Dr. Parkinson held academic positions at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, University of Texas and New England Medical Center of Tufts University School of Medicine. Dr. Parkinson is a past Chairman of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Biologics Advisory Committee and is a recipient of the FDA's Cody Medal. He currently serves on the National Cancer Policy Forum of the Institute of Medicine and is a member of the FDA's Science Board. Dr. Parkinson also serves on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Cancer Research. Dr. Parkinson received his M.D. degree from the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine and hematology/oncology training at McGill University and New England Medical Center.

Upon completion of the spin-off transaction, Facet Biotech will focus on advancing the company's current pipeline of four clinical-stage products, and leveraging the company's research and development capabilities to identify and develop new drugs.

About PDL BioPharma

PDL BioPharma, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel antibodies in oncology and immunologic diseases. For more information, please visit [ www.pdl.com ].

NOTE: PDL BioPharma and the PDL BioPharma logo are considered trademarks of PDL and Facet Biotech is considered a trademark of Facet Biotech Corporation. Gleevec®, Femara®, and Zometa® are registered trademarks of Novartis Corporation, Kepivance® is a registered trademark of Amgen Inc., and Vectibix® is a registered trademark of Immunex Corporation.