SEATTLE, WA - PhaseRx, Inc., a privately held RNAi delivery technology company, announced today that John "Jack" A. Schmidt, Jr., MD, has been appointed to the company's Board of Directors, effective immediately.  PhaseRx is developing a breakthrough polymer-based system that enables the systemic delivery of RNAi-based drugs and potentially other macromolecules as therapeutic products.

The addition of Dr. Schmidt to our Board of Directors complements and deepens PhaseRx' expertise in the therapeutic applications of RNAi molecules and carrier technology, said Robert Overell, PhD, President and Chief Executive Officer of PhaseRx. We look forward to his contributions as we work to achieve our partnering goals and exploit the full potential of our breakthrough technology for the development of RNAi-based drugs.

Dr. Schmidt's track record of successful pharmaceutical development spans more than 25 years. He has held senior leadership positions with Sanofi-Aventis and Merck Research Laboratories, and served most recently as Chief Scientific Officer at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Schmidt has authored more than 60 scientific papers in various peer-reviewed journals. He received his undergraduate degree from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing his residency in Internal Medicine and Board Certification at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he spent five years at the NIH, first in the Laboratory of Immunology, NIAID, and then in the Laboratory of Biochemistry, NHLBI, as a Fellow of the Arthritis Foundation.

ABOUT PHASERX

PhaseRx, Inc., is a privately held RNAi delivery technology company focused on enabling the broad development of RNAi therapeutics, a new class of pharmaceuticals with significant market potential, which has been hindered to date by the lack of effective delivery technology. PhaseRx was founded to solve a critical challenge in RNAi delivery: the need for a versatile, developable system that can be administered systemically and deliver RNAi drugs into the cell where they can reach and inhibit the drug targets. PhaseRx is deploying an integrated delivery system based on novel synthetic polymers that meets these challenges and delivers RNAi drugs into the cytoplasm where they can reach and inhibit the desired target of interest. This proprietary delivery system represents a breakthrough technology for the development of RNAi-based drugs.