Alan S. Nies

Alan S. Nies, M.D. has been a director since November 2003 and chairman of our medical advisory board since March 2003. Dr. Nies has more than 40 years of clinical and pharmacological experience and plays an integral advisory role in the development of our clinical programs. From 1992 until his retirement in September 2002, Dr. Nies served in a series of senior management positions at Merck &a; Co. Inc., including senior vice president of clinical sciences from 1999 to 2002. During his tenure at Merck, Dr. Nies was responsible for worldwide clinical development and clinical research and was involved in the development of several drugs including Fosamax, Singulair, Emend, Zetia and Vioxx. Prior to joining Merck, Dr. Nies spent 15 years as professor of medicine and pharmacology, and head of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. Dr. Nies received his B.S. in Chemistry from Stanford University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the University of Washington and a Clinical Pharmacology fellowship at the University of California in San Francisco.