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Alba Therapeutics Corporation Announces Promotions

BALTIMORE, Oct 02, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Alba Therapeutics Corporation today announced the promotions of Linda Arterburn, PhD, Francisco Leon, MD, PhD, Roberto Allen, Esquire, Mark Ginski, PhD, and Kate Huber. "We are pleased to announce the promotions of several of our team members and we are fortunate to have such a fine group of talented people working here to help us develop medicines for unmet medical needs of patients with celiac disease, asthma, eye disorders, and other areas to treat autoimmune and inflammatory disease," said Bruce Peacock, CEO of Alba Therapeutics.

Linda Arterburn, PhD, has been promoted to Vice President of Preclinical Development and Program Management at Alba. Prior to joining Alba, Dr. Arterburn was Executive Director of Discovery Research at Market Biosciences. In this capacity, she initiated an inflammation research program and was lead inventor on two patents involving novel anti-inflammatory lipids. She previously led Clinical Research and Scientific Affairs at Market where she played a key role in the regulatory authorizations for the addition of Market's fatty acid products, DHA and ARA, to infant formula in the United States and Canada. Dr. Arterburn also spent seven years at W.R. Grace & Co., where she led an in vitro toxicology research program, and then served as Manager of Technology and Planning. Dr. Arterburn received her PhD in Pharmacology and the Molecular Sciences from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her Bachelor's Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin.

Francisco Leon, MD, PhD has been promoted to Vice President, Clinical Development and Medical Affairs. Dr. Leon is an immunologist with broad training in basic and clinical Immunology and a vocation for clinical development in the field of Mucosal Immunology. Prior to joining Alba, Dr. Leon was a Director of Clinical Development, Inflammatory and Respiratory Diseases at Med Immune where he worked on asthma and mucosal vaccination. He was a Director of Clinical Discovery, Oncology/ Immunology at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he worked on Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and transplantation. Dr. Leon received his MD and PhD from Autonomy University, Madrid (Spain), and his PhD work was focused on the pathogenesis and diagnosis of Celiac disease. He completed a residency in Clinical Immunology at Ramon y Canal Hospital, Madrid where he was elected Resident of the Year in Spain in 2001 (Sanities Prize). Leon was a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Clinical Investigation (Mucosal Immunity Section) and in the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology (Mucosal Biology Section) of the National Institutes of Allergy and infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health. He has authored or co-authored 60 original peer-reviewed articles, reviews, book chapters and patents.

Roberto Allen, Esquire has been promoted to Vice President, Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property at Alba. Prior to joining Alba, Mr. Allen was President of Respire Medical, Inc., a respiratory and home health care provider serving the Mid-Atlantic region. He was also Counsel at the Baltimore firm of Kollman & Saucier, P.A., where he practiced General Corporate and Labor & Employment law. Previously, he was a Senior Associate in the Business Department in the Baltimore office of Saul Ewing LLP. Mr. Allen is the Immediate Past President of the Baltimore Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Past Chair of the Maryland Hispanic Business Conference. He currently serves on numerous community Boards of Directors and also serves as a Commissioner on the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. Mr. Allen received his B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics from Tulane University, an M.A. degree in Mathematics from the Johns Hopkins University and a J.D. from the University Of Maryland School Of Law.