“The appointment of Don expands the depth of our already strong management team,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Van Wart, Ph.D. “Don’s experience as a leader in a well respected, financially sophisticated pharmaceutical company, his experience in business development, and his strong analytical skills and strategic financial vision will be critical for us as we expand our product pipeline and move our clinical product candidates towards commercialization. With the company’s four clinical product candidates and active discovery and preclinical development programs, Don’s skills in financial planning and strategic product development will be invaluable.”

Mr. Hill is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and a Masters degree from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Metabolex is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of proprietary new medicines for the treatment of metabolic diseases, with an emphasis on type 2 diabetes. Metabolex has drawn on its deep understanding of diabetes to create a large database of genes involved in diabetes and to build a rich pipeline of product candidates and drug discovery targets. The company has four clinical-stage compounds: MBX-102/JNJ 39659100, which has recently completed a Phase 2/3 trial; MBX-2044, which has completed a Phase 2a trial; MBX-8025, currently being studied in a Phase 2 trial in patients with dyslipidemia; and MBX-2982, which has just commenced a Phase 1 trial. Ortho-McNeil, Inc. has the exclusive right to develop and commercialize MBX-102/JNJ 39659100.