SAN DIEGO, May23, 2007 — Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced the election of Harold Van Wart, Ph.D., to the Companys Board of Directors.
Dr. Van Wart currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Metabolex, Inc., a privately-held life science company in Hayward, CA. He joined Metabolex in 2000 as Senior Vice President, Research and Development, was promoted to President and COO in 2001, and to President and CEO in 2003. From 1999 to 2000, Dr. Van Wart was Vice President and Therapy Area Head for Arthritis and Fibrotic Diseases at Roche Bioscience. From 1992 to 1999, he was Vice President and Director of the Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Syntex. From 1978 to 1992, Dr. Van Wart served on the faculty of Florida State University. He holds a B.A. from State University of New York at Binghamton and received his M.S. and Ph.D. from Cornell University.
“I am very pleased that Dr. Van Wart has joined our Board of Directors,” said Steven J. Mento, Ph.D., President and CEO of Conatus. “Hal brings a wealth of relevant scientific and management experience and will be of tremendous value as Conatus moves forward with the development of drug candidates to treat diseases such as hepatitis where abnormal inflammation plays a key role.”
“I am excited about the opportunity to work with the Conatus board and management team to advance the companys novel approaches for treating liver disease and other maladies that share a related pathophysiology. The teams experience in this area is quite impressive and I am optimistic that they can make a significant contribution in this area of unmet medical need,” said Dr. Van Wart.
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the development of innovative human therapeutics to treat liver disease. Chronic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and can be caused by many different conditions or “insults” to the liver including viral infection, obesity, chronic alcohol abuse or autoimmune diseases. Conatus was founded by the executive management team of Idun Pharmaceuticals in July 2005 following the successful sale of Idun to Pfizer.