Algeta elects US experienced pharma industry executives Judith Hemberger and Kapil Dhingra to its Board of Directors

Algeta ASA (OSE:ALGETA), the focused oncology company, is very pleased to announce that Dr. Judith Hemberger and Dr. Kapil Dhingra were elected to its Board of Directors as Non-executive Directors at the Company’s annual general meeting held in Oslo on 22 April 2010.

Judith Hemberger, Ph.D. (age 62), is an experienced biotech industry executive with more than 30 years’ of global pharmaceutical and biotech industry experience. Dr. Hemberger was a co-founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Pharmion Corporation since its inception in 2000 until 2006. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President of Business Development at AVAX Technologies, Inc., a vaccine technology company. From 1979 to 1998, Dr. Hemberger worked in various capacities at Marion Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company, and its successor companies Marion Merrell Dow and Hoechst Marion Roussel, where she led a number of strategic functions including Professional Education, Global Regulatory Affairs, Global Medical Affairs and Commercial Development. Her final role at Hoechst Marion Roussel was Senior Vice President of Global Drug Regulatory Affairs.

More recently, Dr Hemberger was a Venture Partner at Nomura Phase4 Ventures (2006-2009) and Interim CEO of Zosano Pharma, Inc. She currently serves on the board of directors of VasoGenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Chroma Therapeutics, and has previous board experience with Marion Merrell Dow, NexStar Pharmaceuticals, Cell Pathways, Schein, Pharmion, PRA International, Perrigo, Renovis, Myogen, Zosano Pharma, Novacea, Health Shares, Zymogenetics and Atani.

Dr. Hemberger received a B.S. in biology and chemistry from Mount St. Scholastica College (St. Benedictine College), a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and an M.B.A. from Rockhurst College.

Kapil Dhingra M.B., B.S., (age 50), is formerly Vice President, Head, Oncology Disease Biology Leadership Team, and Head, Oncology Clinical Development at Hoffmann-La Roche, at which he worked between 1999-2008. For three years prior to this, he worked as a Clinical and Senior Clinical Research Physician with Eli Lilly and Company, and from 1989 to 1996 he was a Clinical Instructor, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

Throughout his industry career, Dr. Dhingra maintained an active faculty appointment, initially at Indiana University School of Medicine from 1997 to 1999 as Clinical Associate Professor, and, more recently, at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York from 2000 to 2008.

Dr. Dhingra holds an M.B., B.S. degree (equivalent to a US M.D. degree) from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences. In June 2008, Dr. Dhingra established KAPital Consulting, LLC, a consulting company dedicated to assisting biotechnology, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies realize the full promise of clinical and commercial advances in oncology. He is currently a board member of Micromet, Inc., Coferon, Inc. (a privately held biotechnology company) and the non-profit organization SARC (Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration).

Stein Annexstad, Chairman of Algeta, said: “We are very pleased to welcome Judy and Kapil to the Algeta Board. Between them, they have a wealth of experience in the US and global pharma industry and particularly in the clinical and commercial development of innovative targeted cancer therapies. We look forward to the valuable contributions they will make to the successful continued development of Alpharadin, the building of our US commercial operations, and our longer-term ambitions to develop the business via our thorium technology. We would also like to thank Shahzad Malik, Inga Loen and Jens Petter Falck, who stepped down from the Board at AGM, for their efforts and input over their respective periods with the Company.”

The new board of directors of Algeta consists of the following members: Stein Annexstad (chairman), John E. Berriman (deputy chairman), Kapil Dhingra, Judith Hemberger, Hilde Hermansen Steineger, Ingrid Wiik, Joe Anderson, and Per Samuelsson.