[ back to News ]

CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals Names W. James O’Shea and Daniel Grau to Product Advisory Board

January 3, 2008

LEXINGTON, Mass. — Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc.™, the first company dedicated to creating safer, more effective medicines using precision deuterium chemistry, announced today the addition of two new members to its Product Advisory Board (PAB). The PAB, now comprising seven members, was established at CoNCERT’s inception as a source of deep industry expertise to help evaluate and contribute to development and commercialization strategies for the Company’s product pipeline. The two most recent additions strengthen the PAB in the areas of marketing and commercial operations: W. James O’Shea, former President and Chief Operating Officer, and most recently Vice Chairman of Sepracor Inc. (NASDAQ: SEPR); and Daniel Grau, M.Phil., Chief Operating Officer of CombinatoRx, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRXX).

“Jim and Dan provide a tremendous resource as we prepare to initiate clinical trials in 2008 for our lead compound CTP-347. Their participation in the PAB underscores Concert’s success using its deuterium chemistry platform to rapidly drive product candidates into development, as we continue to expand our research pipeline,” stated Roger Tung, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of CoNCERT.

Mr. O’Shea was responsible for successfully building the commercial infrastructure for Sepracor Inc. Prior to Sepracor, he served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Zeneca Pharmaceuticals. He is also an Executive Board Member and former Chairman of the National Pharmaceutical Counsel and currently serves as a board member of CombinatoRx Incorporated, Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co., CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Surface Logix, Inc. Mr. O’Shea is a graduate of Liverpool Lord Byron University and received an Honors Degree in Applied Physics from the Institute of Physics.

Prior to joining CombinatoRx, Mr. Grau served as a business consultant to Pharmacia Corporation (now Pfizer), focused on corporate strategy, M&A, and the launch and early commercialization of several key prescription brands, including Detrol, Celebrex, Mirapex, Activella and Vagifem. He has also been published in the industry trade publication, Drug Discovery and Development. Mr. Grau received his M.A., M.A.R., and M.Phil. from Yale University, where he was an Andrew J. Mellon Fellow, and received his B.A. with High Honors from Davidson College.

About CoNCERT

CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals is the first company dedicated to creating new medicines through a novel scientific approach utilizing the naturally-occurring element deuterium. CoNCERT applies its innovative precision chemistry platform to modify specific properties of validated drug molecules, yielding a rich pipeline of new chemical entities (NCEs). CoNCERT leverages decades of pharmaceutical experience to create drug candidates with potential for best-in-class efficacy and safety, while greatly reducing R&D risk, time and expense. The Company has over 100 patent applications for new drug candidates addressing a broad range of therapeutic areas, including hot flashes, fibrotic diseases, pain and infectious disease. CoNCERT expects to initiate its first clinical study in 2008. More information on CoNCERT can be found on the Company’s website at http://www.concertpharma.com.

[ back to top ]