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Mon, March 12, 2012

Infinity Appoints Two Experienced Industry Leaders to Its Board of Directors


Published on 2012-03-12 05:18:15 - Market Wire
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CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--([ ])--Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: INFI) today announced that it has appointed Gwen A. Fyfe, M.D., and Norman C. Selby as independent members of its board of directors. Dr. Fyfe is an oncology biotechnology veteran with more than 20 years of drug development experience, most recently at Genentech, Inc. Mr. Selby is a seasoned business leader with more than 30 years of experience leading and advising companies in the healthcare industry.

"It has been a pleasure to work with Jim and Arnie, who have made important contributions in building Infinity"

aWe are delighted to add Gwen and Norman to our board of directors. Gwen has a strong track record of success developing important cancer therapeutics, including Rituxan, Herceptin, Avastin and Tarceva,which will be important aswe move our pipeline forward through the clinical and regulatory process. Norman brings a wealth of experience in finance, corporate strategy and company building to our team,a said Adelene Q. Perkins, president and chief executive officer of Infinity. aAs we advance our six clinical trials across three novel programs, Gwen and Norman are ideal additions to our board, and we look forward to their insights and contributions.a

aItas an exciting time to join Infinityas board of directors, and I look forward to working with the team,a stated Dr. Fyfe. aWith a continued focus on breakthrough science and a maturing pipeline of candidates targeting cancer and inflammatory conditions, Infinity is well positioned to sustainably deliver important new medicines to patients.a

Mr. Selby added, aIam thrilled to join Infinityas board at this stage in the company's development. With a robust pipeline, solid financial foundation and experienced team, I believe that Infinity has the elements in place to become a fully integrated biotechnology company.a

Infinity also announced today that James Tananbaum, M.D., and Arnold Levine, Ph.D., will be retiring from our board in May. Dr. Tananbaum and Dr. Levine, who have been members of Infinityas board of directors since the founding of its predecessor company in 2001, were important contributors to Infinityas early venture funding and initial discovery research efforts.

aIt has been a pleasure to work with Jim and Arnie, who have made important contributions in building Infinity,a said Ms. Perkins. aWe are grateful for their insights and advice, and look forward to building on their contributions as we move our product candidates toward late-stage development and registration.a

Dr. Fyfe held various positions with Genentech, Inc. (now a member of the Roche Group) from 1997 to 2009, including vice president, oncology development and vice president, Avastin franchise team, as well as the honorary title of senior staff scientist. Dr. Fyfe played an important role in the development of Genentechas approved oncology agents, including Rituxan, Herceptin, Avastin and Tarceva. Dr. Fyfe sat on the development oversight committee for all of Genentechas products and participated in the research review committee that moved products from research into clinical development. Since leaving Genentech in 2009, Dr. Fyfe has been a consultant for venture capital firms and for a variety of biotechnology companies. Dr. Fyfe is a recognized oncology expert in the broader oncology community and has been an invited member of Institute of Medicine panels, National Cancer Institute working groups and grant committees and American Society of Clinical Oncologists oversight committees. She currently serves on the board of directors of Array BioPharma, Inc. Dr. Fyfe is a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine and a board certified pediatric oncologist.

Mr. Selby is a senior advisor at Perseus, L.L.C., a private equity firm. He is also executive chairman of Real Endpoints L.L.C., a healthcare information company focused on the changing reimbursement landscape in the U.S. and Europe. Before joining Perseus in 2005, Mr. Selby was president and CEO of TransForm Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on innovation in the form and formulation of drug compounds, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson. He was also an executive vice president at Citigroup/Citicorp from 1997 to 2000. Mr. Selby spent most of his career at McKinsey & Company, where he was a senior partner and head of the firmas global pharmaceuticals and medical products practice. Mr. Selby serves on the board of trustees of the Central Park Conservancy, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention. He is also a member of the advisory board of the Harvard Business School's Healthcare Initiative and a board member of the National Parks Conservation Association in Washington D.C. Mr. Selby holds a B.A. in Architecture from Yale College and an M.B.A. with Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

About Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Infinity is an innovative drug discovery and development company seeking to discover, develop and deliver to patients best-in-class medicines for difficult-to-treat diseases. Infinity combines proven scientific expertise with a passion for developing novel small molecule drugs that target emerging disease pathways. Infinityas programs focused on the inhibition of the Hedgehog pathway, heat shock protein 90 and phosphoinositide-3-kinase are evidence of its innovative approach to drug discovery and development. For more information on Infinity, please refer to the companyas website at [ www.infi.com ].

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include the expectation that James Tananbaum and Arnold Levine will be retiring from our board in May. Such statements are subject to numerous factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from the companyas current expectations. For example, there can be no guarantee that Infinityas strategic alliance with Mundipharma International Corporation Limited will continue for its expected term or that it will fund Infinityas programs as agreed, that any product candidate Infinity is developing will successfully complete necessary preclinical and clinical development phases, or that development of any of Infinityas product candidates will continue. Further, there can be no guarantee that any positive developments in Infinityas product portfolio will result in stock price appreciation. Managementas expectations could also be affected by risks and uncertainties relating to: Infinityas results of clinical trials and preclinical studies, including subsequent analysis of existing data and new data received from ongoing and future studies; the content and timing of decisions made by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory authorities, investigational review boards at clinical trial sites and publication review bodies; Infinityas ability to enroll patients in its clinical trials; unplanned cash requirements and expenditures, including in connection with business development activities; development of agents by Infinityas competitors for diseases in which Infinity is currently developing its product candidates; and Infinityas ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent and other intellectual property protection for any product candidates it is developing. These and other risks which may impact managementas expectations are described in greater detail under the caption aRisk Factorsa included in Infinityas quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2011, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 8, 2011. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Infinity expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.