CuraGen Corporation (CRGN)

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CuraGen Corporation Announces Appointment of Sean Cassidy as CFO
Thursday December 20, 6:43 am ET

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/071220/neth037.html?.v=35


BRANFORD, Conn., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced the appointment of Sean Cassidy, as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer effective January 1, 2008. CuraGen also announced today that David M. Wurzer will step down from his position effective January 1, 2008 to pursue other opportunities, but will remain with the Company through March 2008, as an advisor to the Company.


"We are pleased to welcome Sean to the CuraGen team," commented Timothy Shannon, President and Chief Executive Officer. "We believe that Sean's accounting and financial expertise in the life sciences sector, combined with his historical knowledge of CuraGen, will be beneficial as we advance our development pipeline towards commercialization."

Dr. Shannon further commented, "On behalf of the entire board and employees of CuraGen, I would like to thank Dave Wurzer for his more than 10 years of service to CuraGen during which he made substantial contributions across the organization. Dave will continue to work with CuraGen over the next few months to ensure a smooth and effective transition."

Previously, Mr. Cassidy served as Corporate Controller of 454 Life Sciences Corporation (454) since September 2002. Mr. Cassidy joined 454 when it was a development stage company and supported its growth into a successful commercial entity. During this time, Mr. Cassidy assisted 454 in a private round of financing in 2003, entering into a comprehensive License, Supply and Distribution Agreement with Roche Applied Science in 2005 and in the acquisition of 454 by Roche Applied Science in 2007. Prior to joining 454, Mr. Cassidy served as Manager of Financial Planning at CuraGen Corporation from August 2001 to September 2002. Mr. Cassidy also spent over eight years at Deloitte & Touche LLP's Hartford office in the audit practice. During this time Mr. Cassidy served both public and private companies in various industries; advising these clients on public and private securities offerings, mergers and acquisition due diligence reviews and annual and quarterly reporting requirements under the Securities and Exchange Commission's rules and regulations.

Mr. Cassidy earned both his Master of Business Administration degree and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Connecticut in 2000 and 1992, respectively. Mr. Cassidy is a certified public accountant in the State of Connecticut.

About CuraGen

CuraGen Corporation (Nasdaq: CRGN - News) is a dedicated clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing diverse approaches for the treatment of cancer including the histone deacetylase inhibitor, belinostat, and the antibody-drug conjugate, CR011-vcMMAE. By leveraging drug development strengths cultivated over the years, CuraGen expects to make a difference by advancing its promising therapeutics to address the unmet medical needs of cancer patients. CuraGen Corporation is headquartered in Branford, Connecticut. For additional information please visit www.curagen.com.

Safe Harbor

Statements in this press release regarding management's future expectations, beliefs, intentions, goals, strategies, plans or prospects, including statements relating to the benefits to be achieved as a result of Mr. Cassidy's hiring may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward- looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "could increase the likelihood," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "is planned," "may," "should," "will," "will enable," "would be expected," "look forward," "may provide," "would" or similar terms, variations of such terms or the negative of those terms. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, including the risk that any one or more of CuraGen's drug development programs will not proceed as planned for technical, scientific, regulatory or commercial reasons or due to patient enrollment issues or based on new information from nonclinical or clinical studies or from other sources, the success of competing products and technologies, CuraGen's stage of development as a biopharmaceutical company, government regulation and healthcare reform, technological uncertainty and product development risks, product liability exposure, uncertainty of additional funding, CuraGen's history of incurring losses and the uncertainty of achieving profitability, reliance on research collaborations and strategic alliances, competition, patent infringement claims against CuraGen's products, processes and technologies, CuraGen's ability to protect its patents and proprietary rights and uncertainties relating to commercialization rights, as well as those risks, uncertainties and factors referred to in CuraGen's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the section "Risk Factors," as well as other documents that may be filed by CuraGen from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As a result of such risks, uncertainties and factors, CuraGen's actual results may differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements discussed in or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. CuraGen is providing the information in this press release as of this date and assumes no obligations to update the information included in this press release or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.


CRGN-G

Contacts:
Glenn Schulman, PharmD
Director of Investor Relations
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