Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) today announced the addition of two new members to the executive management team. Gregory D. Plowman, M.D., Ph.D., joins Exelixis as Vice President of Pharmaceutical Research, and Pamela A. Simonton joins the company as Vice President of Corporate Technology Development.

"I am happy to welcome Greg and Pam to Exelixis and delighted that they share our vision of building on our leadership position in genetics and biology to create a drug discovery engine that can generate a substantial oncology drug pipeline," said George Scangos, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of Exelixis, Inc. "Greg brings extensive experience in oncology research and already is making substantial contributions to the development of our internal oncology program. Pamela has over twenty years of experience in the field of intellectual property as well as pharmaceutical licensing and acquisitions. She adds substantial expertise to Exelixis' capabilities in these areas, which are important for both our partnered and proprietary programs."

Gregory D. Plowman, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President of Pharmaceutical Research, joined Exelixis from Sugen, a Pharmacia company, where he most recently served as Vice President of Molecular Biology. At Sugen, Dr. Plowman was responsible for the identification and validation of therapeutic targets in oncology, angiogenesis, and metabolic disease, with a particular focus on protein kinases and phosphatases. Prior to Sugen, Dr. Plowman served as Senior Principal Scientist, Oncology Drug Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Moreover, Dr. Plowman has previous experience with Oncogen and The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He has authored numerous articles in the cancer field, and is an inventor on 9 issued U.S. patents. Dr. Plowman holds a Ph.D. in Pathology and an M.D., both from the University of Washington.

Pamela A. Simonton, J.D., L.L.M., serves as Vice President of Corporate Technology Development. Ms. Simonton joined Exelixis from Bayer Corporation, where she was Vice President, Licensing and Acquisitions for its North American Pharmaceutical Division. At Bayer, she was responsible for the in-licensing and out-licensing of multimillion dollar products and technologies. Previously, she held the position of Vice President of Patents and Licensing for Bayer's Pharmaceutical Division. In 1986, she served as Patent Counsel at Amgen, Inc. In addition to a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Physics, Ms. Simonton received her J.D. at Nova University Center for the Study of Law and her L.L.M. in Patent and Trade Regulation from George Washington University.