PolyMedix Promotes Bozena Korczak to Senior Vice President, Drug Development and Chief Development Officer
Online, January 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - PolyMedix, Inc. (OTC BB: PYMX), an emerging biotechnology company focused on developing new therapeutic drugs for the treatment of serious infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders, announces the promotion of Bozena Korczak, Ph.D. to Senior Vice President, Drug Development and Chief Development Officer.
"I am proud to announce Dr. Korczak's promotion which acknowledges her significant contributions at PolyMedix, including advancing our lead antibiotic, PMX-30063 into Phase 2 clinical trials for the treatment of ABSSSI Staph infections in patients," commented Nicholas Landekic, President and CEO of PolyMedix. "Bozena has distinguished herself with her exceptional leadership capabilities, intellectual agility and tireless commitment and efforts. I look forward to her continuing to play a major role in PolyMedix's mission to develop novel therapeutic drugs for life-threatening diseases."
In this expanded role, Dr. Korczak (56) will be responsible for all drug development activities related to PolyMedix's pipeline of products, including clinical development and operations, regulatory affairs, and chemistry, manufacturing and controls. Dr. Korczak will continue to oversee our clinical advisors, including Dr. Roger Echols, Chairman of the Infectious Disease Clinical Advisory Board, and consultant to PolyMedix, in the development of our lead defensin mimetic antibiotic PMX-30063. Former Chief Medical Officer, Dr. R. Eric McAllister (68), will now focus exclusively on PolyMedix's heptagonist, PMX-60056, as Vice President of Cardiovascular Clinical Development, one of the positions reporting to Dr. Korczak.
Dr. Korczak joined PolyMedix in November 2007 as Vice President, Drug Development. She has over 20 years of experience in drug discovery and preclinical and clinical research at emerging biotech companies. Prior to joining PolyMedix, Dr. Korczak was a Principal at PharmaReach, Ltd., a private drug development consulting company, and Vice President of Research and Development of Cytochroma, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company. Dr. Korczak served in various positions of increasing responsibility at Glycodesign, Inc., Allelix Biopharmaceutical, Inc. and Mount Sinai Hospital. She is an author of thirty five peer reviewed scientific papers and holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Polish Academy of Science.
About PolyMedix, Inc.
PolyMedix is a publicly traded biotechnology company focused on the development of novel drugs for the treatment of serious infectious diseases and acute cardiovascular disorders. PolyMedix uses a rational drug design approach to create non-peptide, small-molecule drug candidates. PolyMedix's lead antibiotic compound, PMX-30063, is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials. PMX-30063 is a small-molecule that mimics the mechanism of action of human host defense proteins, a mechanism that is distinct from currently approved antibiotic drugs and is intended to make bacterial resistance unlikely to develop. PolyMedix plans to develop this compound for serious systemic Staphylococcal infections, including methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). PolyMedix's lead heptagonist compound, PMX-60056, has completed Phase 1 testing and is being developed to reverse the anticoagulant activity of both heparin and low molecular weight heparins (LMWH). PolyMedix believes that PMX-60056 could potentially be a safer and easier to use anticoagulant reversing agent, with broader activity, than the currently approved therapy for reversing heparin and LMWH. In addition to its small molecule therapeutics, PolyMedix has polymeric formulations with the same mechanism of action as PMX-30063, PolyCides®. PolyCides are intended for use in antimicrobial biomaterials applications as additives to paints, plastics, and textiles to create self-sterilizing products and surfaces. For more information, please visit our website at www.polymedix.com.
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