CRGN Curagen Corp. (MM)

BRANFORD, Conn., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation (NASDAQ:CRGN) announced today that it is creating the new position of Executive Chairman of the Board and is naming current board member Mr. John H. Forsgren to fill that role. Outgoing non-executive chairman Robert Patricelli said that he had recommended this structural change to the board given the enhanced need for board leadership and support to management as the company pursues the exploration of strategic options which it announced on February 18, 2009. Mr. Patricelli will remain on the CuraGen board of directors. "Since I serve as the CEO of two very active private companies, I can not devote the additional time that CuraGen now needs," Patricelli said. "I am very grateful to John Forsgren for stepping up to take on these enhanced responsibilities," he added. Mr. Forsgren has previously served as chief financial officer of several large public companies. He currently serves on the boards of The Phoenix Companies, Port Townsend Paper Company, and Trident Resources. He has served on the CuraGen board for seven years and is currently Chairman of the Audit Committee. He said: "CuraGen has a great array of product and management resources, and a very strong financial position which gives it unique opportunities in today's environment. I look forward to working with management and the board to maximize the value of those assets for our shareholders." Dr. Timothy M. Shannon, CuraGen's President and Chief Executive Officer who will now report directly to Mr. Forsgren, said that "the management team welcomes John Forsgren taking on this executive role since he has extensive personal experience in the management of transactions involving public companies and that is the skill set we most need right now." Forward-Looking Statements Statements in this press release regarding management's future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "could increase the likelihood," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is planned," "may," "should," "will," "will enable," "would be expected," "look forward," "may provide," "would" or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors including the risk that any one or more of CuraGen's drug development programs will not proceed as planned for technical, scientific or commercial reasons or due to patient enrollment issues or based on new information from nonclinical or clinical studies or from other sources, the success of competing products and technologies, CuraGen's stage of development as a biopharmaceutical company, government regulation and healthcare reform, technological uncertainty and product development risks, product liability exposure, uncertainty of additional funding, CuraGen's history of incurring losses and the uncertainty of achieving profitability, reliance on research collaborations and strategic alliances, competition, patent infringement claims against CuraGen's products, processes and technologies, CuraGen's ability to protect its patents and proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to commercialization rights, as well as those risks, uncertainties and factors referred to in CuraGen's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2008, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the section "Risk Factors," as well as other documents that may be filed by CuraGen from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, CuraGen's actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. CuraGen is providing the information in this press release as of this date and assumes no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. CRGN-F Contacts: Sean Cassidy Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (203) 481-1104 DATASOURCE: Curagen Corporation CONTACT: Sean Cassidy, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of CuraGen Corporation, +1-203-481-1104, Web Site: http://www.curagen.com/

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