Michael D. Taylor, Ph.D., Joins Cequent Pharmaceuticals' Board of...( CAMBRIDGE Mass. May 5 /- Cequent ...)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Cequent Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in the development of novel products to deliver RNAi-based treatments to prevent and treat human disease, announced that Michael D. Taylor, Ph.D., has joined the company's board of directors. Dr. Taylor is president and chief executive officer of Ensemble Discovery Corporation, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biotechnology company developing novel classes of therapeutics and bioassays using its proprietary DNA Programmed Chemistry(TM) (DPC(TM)) platform.

"Mike is a terrific addition to our board," said Cequent President and CEO, Peter Parker. "With more than 20 years in the pharmaceutical industry, his extensive experience ranges from drug discovery -- leading early and late-stage development projects across multiple therapeutic areas, including Lipitor(R) and Neurontin(R) -- to licensing, business development, and managing R&D alliances with pharmaceutical and biotech partners. His counsel and strong industry relationships will be valuable assets to Cequent as we continue to move our clinical candidates from pre-clinical development toward a successful IND submission with the FDA."

Dr. Taylor joined Ensemble Discovery Corporation in July of 2007. Previously, he was senior vice president for Pfizer's Global R&D division. In addition to his R&D experience, he is active in investor development, government affairs, and public policy affecting the pharmaceutical industry. Until 2003, he was adjunct professor of medicinal chemistry at the College of Pharmacy at the University of Michigan, where he was active in teaching medicinal chemistry and biopharmaceutics. Dr. Taylor has authored or coauthored 65 manuscripts and published abstracts, and holds six patents.

Dr. Taylor has a doctorate in medicinal chemistry from the State University of New York at Buffalo and was awarded an NIH postdoctoral fellowship in natural products synthesis and structure elucidation at the Uni
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