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Donald N. Halbert, Ph.D. Joins Iconix Pharmaceuticals as Executive Vice President of Research and Development Former Abbott Labs Director to Add Long-term Industry Perspective MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Iconix Pharmaceuticals appointed Donald N. Halbert, Ph.D. to the role of Executive Vice President of Research and Development. Dr. Halbert will be responsible for all research, development and informatics activities at Iconix. Dr. Halbert brings over two decades of proven scientific leadership experience in large pharmaceutical R&D and biotechnology. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Halbert had been at Abbott Laboratories for more than 13 years. In his most recent position he was Director of Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics in the Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development Group. In this capacity, he was responsible for the application of human genomics, genetics, proteomics and bioinformatics across all therapeutic areas. The group was charged with delivering and validating new targets, and applying leading edge technologies to improve the process of drug discovery and development. For the past three years, Dr. Halbert was also responsible for the Toxicogenomics program at Abbott, and was instrumental in establishing Abbott as a recognized industry leader in the application of gene expression analysis to the understanding and prediction of compound toxicity. Dr. Halbert was also the chairman of the Abbott-Iconix scientific advisory committee, overseeing the December 2003 alliance between the two companies. "We are very excited about Don joining Iconix," said Jim Neal, CEO of Iconix Pharmaceuticals. "Don was the director of a group at Abbott that is one of the most advanced in the pharmaceutical industry in applying chemo- and toxicogenomics to drug discovery and development. His deep knowledge of the science of genomics combined with his experience successfully applying that knowledge to real world drug discovery, makes him the ideal person to lead Iconix's scientific team." Dr. Halbert received his Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from Washington University in St. Louis and completed a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Thomas Shenk at SUNY Stony Brook. He has published extensively and has coauthored numerous patents related to his work. Prior to joining Abbott, Dr. Halbert held scientific and management positions at Becton Dickinson with a focus on molecular biology and diagnostics, and was a co-founder of the molecular diagnostics company Gene-Trak Systems in Framingham, MA. "I am enthusiastic about joining Iconix because I've seen the value of the technology first-hand," said Dr. Halbert. "In my thirteen years at Abbott, I've been responsible for numerous collaborations with smaller companies, and in working with Iconix I found both the science and the people to be among the best. I look forward to sustaining the scientific focus of the company and helping to grow the business." About Iconix: Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pioneering the new field of chemogenomics, the integration of chemistry and genomics to profile drug candidates. Iconix's chemogenomic capabilities enable pharmaceutical companies to increase the odds of advancing the right compounds to the clinic, reducing attrition rates and the costs of drug discovery. Iconix provides reference systems and know-how to predict toxic liabilities, side effects and mechanisms of drug candidates. The company has collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Abbott Laboratories, ICOS, Eli Lilly, Schering-Plough, AstraZeneca, Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Eisai Co., Ltd. and other leading companies. Iconix also provides research, training and support to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) under an agreement to advance CDER's study of the application of genomic technologies in the regulatory approval process. Iconix's DrugMatrix system has been installed at the FDA for use by CDER scientists and reviewers in a diverse range of chemogenomics applications. The company also has strategic partnerships with leading life sciences companies including MDS Pharma Services (TSE:MDS)(NYSE:MDZ) and GE Healthcare. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Iconix was founded in 1998 and is privately held. For more information, visit http://www.iconixpharm.com/. CONTACT: Jennifer Larson for Iconix Pharmaceuticals, +1-415-409-2729, or . DATASOURCE: Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CONTACT: Jennifer Larson for Iconix Pharmaceuticals, +1-415-409-2729, or Web site: http://www.iconixpharm.com/

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