Stroke Drug Development Expert Joins Innovative CNS Therapeutics Company

NEW YORK, NY — April 2, 2007 —Remedy Pharmaceuticals today announced the appointment of Eugene D. Means, M.D. FAAN to the position of Chief Medical Officer. Remedy is an early-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of new drug treatments for stroke, traumatic brain injury, and spinal cord injury. The company’s lead compound, R-001, is an inhibitor of the NCCa-ATP  channel, a novel target implicated in the pathophysiology of ischemic CNS damage.

Dr. Means joins Remedy after more than 30 years in the CNS field, having held the positions of Group Director of CNS at Upjohn, now part of Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), as well as Executive Director of CNS and Medical Leader of Emerging Products at Astra Merck, now AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN). Dr. Means was Head of Clinical Research and Acting Head of Drug Development of AstraZeneca in the US, and more recently Executive Director of Field Medical.   Dr. Means was responsible for the clinical development of Tirilizad at Upjohn, and contributed to the development of Zendra and more recently NXY-059 at AstraZeneca. “I was attracted to the company by the clearly identified mechanism of action of R-001, which is upstream in the injury cascade,” said Dr. Means, “As impressive, the company already has initial human data indicating efficacy in stroke, which is extremely rare in this field.”

The NCCa-ATP  channel was discovered at the University of Maryland School of Medicine by J. Marc Simard, M.D., Ph.D, a professor of neurology, physiology and pathology, and Dr. Mingkui Chen, M.D., Ph.D.  R-001 is initially being developed for the treatment of ischemic stroke. There are over 700,000 strokes in the U.S. each year, resulting in 280,000 fatalities, and costing the healthcare system an annual $56.8 billion. There is currently only one FDA-approved drug for the treatment of acute stroke, and that drug must be administered within three hours of the onset of a stroke resulting in 97% of stroke victims receiving no drug-based therapy. 

“We are privileged to have Dr. Means join our team,” says David Geliebter, Remedy Pharmaceutical’s Chairman, adding, “With Gene’s involvement we can aggressively move forward in taking R-001 through Phase II trials.”

“Dr. Means is an outstanding choice for the job – a superb clinical executive and a proven leader with years of experience in the difficult area of stroke trials,” states Sven Jacobson, the company’s President adding, “His experience in this field will be invaluable.”

Remedy Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately-held drug development company based in New York. R-001 is a trademark of Remedy Pharmaceuticals. The company is venture-backed by Carrot Capital Healthcare Ventures, a New York-based early stage life science venture capital firm. For more information go to www.remedypharmaceuticals.com or email info@remedypharmaceuticals.com.