achillion pharmaceuticals (ACHN) Snapshot

To discuss preclinical compound, ACH-3422, a novel small molecule nucleotide prodrug of a uridine analog designed to inhibit HCV NS5B polymerase

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that President and Chief Executive Officer Michael D. Kishbauch has decided to retire. In conjunction with this decision, the Board has appointed President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer, Milind Deshpande, Ph.D., to the role of President and Chief Executive Officer and to the Board of Directors. Mr. Kishbauch, who will continue working with management over a three month transition period, will remain a Director on the Achillion Board and is being appointed Chair of a newly-formed Strategy and Corporate Development Committee of the Board. Achillion also announced that David Wright has decided to step down from the Board of Directors following the Annual Stockholder's Meeting held on May 28, 2013. Milind Desphande, Ph.D., joined Achillion in September 2001 as Vice President of Chemistry and was named Head of Drug Discovery in April 2002. Dr. Deshpande was promoted to Senior Vice President of Drug Discovery in December 2002, Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer in December 2004, and as Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer since June 2007. He was named President of Research and Development in 2011.

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of David Apelian, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, effective May 28, 2013. Dr. Apelian will assume responsibility for the clinical development of Achillion's portfolio of compounds to treat HCV. In addition, Achillion also announced the expansion of its clinical operations group with the recent addition of Kevin Kucharski, formerly head of clinical operations at Pharmasset, who will serve as Senior Vice President of Clinical Operations. Dr. Apelian brings to Achillion more than 13 years of industry experience from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Schering Plough and GlobeImmune where he focused on hepatology and infectious disease clinical development. Dr. Apelian was Clinical Director in the Infectious Diseases Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), serving as medical co-lead for the clinical development and NDA submission of entecavir for chronic hepatitis B viral infection (HBV). Mr. Kucharski comes to Achillion with more than two decades of clinical operations expertise, with a focus on conducting U.S. and global clinical trials, ranging from Phase 1 through Phase 4. Prior to joining Achillion, Mr. Kucharski was Vice President of Clinical Operations at Pharmasset since 2007, and then at Gilead Sciences following their acquisition of Pharmasset.