– Stephen C. McCluski Named Chairman of the Board –
WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 11, 2009--
ImmunoGen,
Inc. (Nasdaq: IMGN), a
biotechnology company that develops targeted anticancer products,
announced that Howard Pien was elected to its Board of Directors at
today’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Company also announced that
Stephen C. McCluski has been named Chairman of the Board, replacing
former ImmunoGen CEO Mitchel Sayare, Ph.D., in this position. Dr. Sayare
continues to serve on the Board as a director.
“We believe now is an appropriate time to realign our corporate
governance structure and have a non-executive chairman,” commented
Daniel Junius, ImmunoGen President and CEO. “Steve has demonstrated that
he can be an effective leader of the Board, and I look forward to
working with him and the other directors in continuing to move the
Company forward.”
Mr. McCluski has served on the ImmunoGen Board of Directors since April
2007, bringing to it extensive business and financial expertise. He was
the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Bausch & Lomb
Inc. prior to his retirement in 2007. Mr. McCluski is also a director of
the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center of the University of Rochester and of
Standard Microsystems Corporation.
“I look forward to serving ImmunoGen as chairman and – in this capacity
– I am delighted to welcome Howard to the Board,” commented Mr.
McCluski. “Howard’s experience at successful biotechnology and
pharmaceutical companies will be invaluable as ImmunoGen continues to
advance its pipeline.”
Mr. Pien was the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Medarex, Inc. from
2007 to its acquisition by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in September
2009. Prior to that, he was President and CEO of Chiron Corporation from
2003 to its acquisition by Novartis, and before that Mr. Pien held
positions of increasing responsibility at GlaxoSmithKline and its
predecessor, SmithKline Beecham, at Abbott Laboratories and at Merck &
Co. He is also a director of ViroPharma Incorporated and Vanda
Pharmaceuticals.
“ImmunoGen is transitioning to becoming an organization that not only
does outstanding research but also successfully advances significant new
anticancer therapeutics, and I am looking forward to serving on its
Board,” commented Mr. Pien.
At today’s Annual Meeting, shareholders also voted to fix the number of
members of the Board of Directors at nine and approved an amendment to
the Company's restated articles of organization to increase the number
of authorized shares of common stock from 75 million to 100 million
shares. In addition to electing Mr. Pien and re-electing Mr. McCluski
and Dr. Sayare to the Board, shareholders re-elected Mr. Daniel Junius,
Mr. David Carter, Dr. Nicole Onetto, Mr. Mark Skaletsky, Dr. Joseph
Villafranca and Mr. Richard Wallace to the Board.
About ImmunoGen, Inc.
ImmunoGen, Inc. develops targeted anticancer therapeutics using its
expertise in cancer biology, monoclonal antibodies and the creation and
attachment of potent cell-killing agents. The Company’s Targeted
Antibody Payload (TAP) technology uses antibodies to deliver one of
ImmunoGen’s proprietary cell-killing agents specifically to cancer
targets. In addition to the Company’s product pipeline, compounds
utilizing the TAP technology are in clinical testing through ImmunoGen’s
collaborations with Genentech (a wholly-owned member of the Roche
Group), sanofi-aventis, Biogen Idec and Biotest. The most advanced
compound, trastuzumab-DM1 (T-DM1), is in Phase III testing being
conducted by Genentech and Roche. Other ImmunoGen collaborative partners
include Bayer HealthCare and Amgen. More information about ImmunoGen can
be found at www.immunogen.com.
Source: ImmunoGen, Inc.
ImmunoGen, Inc.
Carol Hausner, 781-895-0600
Executive
Director, Investor Relations
and Corporate Communications
info@immunogen.com
