BIO Names Genentech’s Susan Desmond-Hellmann to Board

Washington, D.C. (February 28, 2002)-The board of directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) voted unanimously to add Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., to their ranks. Desmond-Hellmann, executive vice president of Genentech, Inc., is responsible for the company’s medical and regulatory affairs, product development and pharmacological sciences, as well as manufacturing, process sciences, quality and engineering.

Hellmann is currently adjunct associate professor, epidemiology and biostatistics, at the University of California, San Francisco; she was formerly assistant professor, hematology-oncology, also at UCSF. In September 2000, Hellmann was named to the board of directors of Aerogen.

Prior to joining Genentech, Hellmann was associate director of clinical cancer research at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute and the project team leader for Taxol.

Hellmann, a California native, holds bachelor’s and medical degrees from the University of Nevada-Reno, and a master’s degree in epidemiology and biostatistics from the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health. She is board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology following her clinical training at the University of California, San Francisco.

During her nine years of training in internal medicine and oncology, Hellmann spent two years as visiting faculty at the Uganda Cancer Institute studying AIDS and cancer. She also spent two years in private practice before deciding to return to research.

“Susan is a significant addition to our board of directors. She has both a medical and public-health perspective, which she has brought to bear on new medical advances in oncology,” said BIO President Carl B. Feldbaum. “She is also the experienced voice of one of our industry’s most innovative and successful companies. Her participation is of particular importance during the delicate negotiations for the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act.

“The outcome of these negotiations will have an important impact on the drug approval process,” Feldbaum said, “and Susan is positioned to assist BIO on critical issues for years to come.”

Genentech, Inc., is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets human pharmaceuticals for significant unmet medical needs. Fifteen of the currently approved products of biotechnology are based on or stem from Genentech science. Genentech markets 10 products directly in the United States. The company has headquarters in South San Francisco, Calif., and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DNA.

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. For more information, please visit our Web site, www.bio.org .
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