“Chuck has a long and distinguished history of directing the development of promising compounds through chemistry, biology and screening, and that deep experience will prove invaluable as Metabolex advances its promising pipeline of preclinical candidates,” said President and Chief Executive Officer Harold Van Wart, Ph.D. “We have several preclinical compounds that have shown promise in diabetes, obesity and other metabolic diseases, as well as a growing stable of validated targets for those diseases which underscore the importance of Chuck’s work.”

Dr. McWherter served as head of Pfizer’s cardiovascular research unit in St. Louis during which his organization built a portfolio of clinical candidates for hypertension, renal disease and thrombosis. Prior to joining Pfizer, he served as vice president of drug discovery at Sugen Inc. where he developed and implemented a strategic plan integrating structure-based drug design with advanced compound screening. Before joining Sugen, Dr. McWherter worked at Pharmacia Corp. and its predecessor companies, G.D. Searle & Co. and Monsanto Co., for almost two decades, rising to site director for oncology research.

Dr. McWherter has published more than 30 scientific articles and holds eight U.S. patents. He previously served as an adjunct assistant professor of molecular biology and pharmacology at the Washington University School of Medicine and was chairman of the board of directors of the Greater St. Louis Division of the American Heart Association. Dr. McWherter holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Cornell University.

Metabolex is a privately held biotechnology company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel therapeutics to transform the treatment of diabetes and related metabolic disorders. Metabolex has drawn on its deep understanding of diabetes to create the largest database of genes involved in diabetes and to build a rich pipeline of product candidates and drug discovery targets. The company has three clinical-stage compounds: MBX-102/JNJ 39659100, in Phase 2/3 testing; MBX-2044, in Phase 2a; and MBX-8025, being studied in dyslipidemia, which has completed Phase 1 studies. Ortho-McNeil, Inc. has the exclusive right to develop and commercialize MBX-102/JNJ 39659100 and MBX-2044.