Executive Management Team

Paul K. Laikind, Ph.D., Director, President, and Chief Executive Officer - Paul K. Laikind, Ph.D. is one of the founders of Metabasis and has been with the company since its inception in April 1997. He joined the company as president and served as a director on the Board of Directors. He was appointed to the role of chief executive officer in April 1998 and his role was expanded to include president and secretary in June 1999. He served as chairman of the Board of Directors from April 1998 until September 2006. Prior to joining Metabasis, Dr. Laikind founded Gensia, Inc. in 1986 where he served as vice president of Business Development. He was responsible for establishing major research and development corporate partnerships with leading U.S. and European companies. While at Gensia, Dr. Laikind also founded Viagene, Inc., a biotechnology company acquired by Chiron, Inc. in 1995. Dr. Laikind currently serves on the Boards of BIOCOM and the San Diego Chapter of the American Liver Foundation and is a member of the BIO Emerging Companies Section Governing Body. Dr. Laikind holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of California at San Diego and has served as a research faculty member at the UCSD School of Medicine.

Mark D. Erion, Ph.D., Director, Executive Vice President of Research and Development, and Chief Scientific Officer - Mark D. Erion, Ph.D. is one of our founders and has served as our Executive Vice President of Research and Development since April 1997 and on our Board of Directors since June 1999. In November 2005, Dr. Erion was appointed Chief Scientific Officer of Metabasis. Prior to joining Metabasis, Dr. Erion was with Gensia, where he served as Director of Chemistry and Biochemistry from 1991 and assumed responsibility for research in 1996. Prior to joining Gensia, Dr. Erion was a Group Leader at Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceutical Company, where he directed a team in the area of protein engineering. Dr. Erion's research has resulted in over 98 publications and 33 U.S. patents. His discovery efforts over the past 12 years have produced seven clinical candidates, several research collaborations and more recently our HepDirect and NuMimetic technologies. Dr. Erion received a B.S. in mathematics and chemistry from the University of Oregon, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University and was a National Institutes of Health postdoctoral fellow in enzymology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Edgardo Baracchini, Ph.D., M.B.A., Senior Vice President of Business Development - Edgardo Baracchini, Ph.D., M.B.A. has served as our Vice President of Business Development since May 2002 and was promoted to our Senior Vice President of Business Development in April 2005. Dr. Baracchini has over 15 years' experience in structuring and negotiating research and development partnerships, mergers and acquisitions, and in-licensing arrangements. To date, Dr. Baracchini has negotiated more than 50 business transactions with multinational and Asian pharmaceutical firms, biotechnology companies and leading universities. Prior to joining Metabasis, since 1999 Dr. Baracchini was an officer and Vice President of Business Development at Elitra Pharmaceuticals. From 1996 to 1999, Dr. Baracchini served as the Director of Business Development at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, and as Assistant Director of Business Development at Isis Pharmaceuticals from 1992 to 1996. Dr. Baracchini holds a Ph.D. in molecular and cell biology from the University of Texas at Dallas, an M.B.A. from the University of California, Irvine and a B.S. degree in microbiology from the University of Notre Dame.

Constance C. Bienfait, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications - Constance C. Bienfait has served as Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications since March 2006. Ms. Bienfait brings over two decades of investor relations, public and media relations and corporate communications experience to Metabasis. Before joining Metabasis, she served as Vice President of Investor Relations at Nabi Biopharmaceuticals and prior to that served as Executive Director of Corporate Communications for Kos Pharmaceuticals. In both capacities, she managed all aspects of the companies' investor, public and government relations, as well as internal communications. She also served as vice president at Morgen-Walke Associates, a New York City investor and public relations consulting firm, where she advised clients on all levels of strategic issues, crisis management, and disclosure requirements, as well as public relations, marketing and branding initiatives. Ms. Bienfait attended the London School of Economics graduate program and received her B.S. in Economics with honors from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.