Pieris AG announced the appointment of Stephen S Yoder as CEO with immediate effect. Yoder takes over the position from interim CEO and co-founder Claus Schalper, who will remain CFO. Yoder joins Pieris from MorphoSys AG, where he was General Counsel and Head of Licensing & IP, responsible for company-wide legal & IP, as well as several areas in business development.

"We are delighted to have Steve on board to help drive the value of Pieris' proprietary Anticalin technology,” commented Dr Hans A Kuepper, chairman of Pieris' Supervisory Board. "The company is truly moving into a new phase, where the first products are entering the clinic and the Anticalin technology platform is reliably delivering multiple drug candidates against many novel targets. Steve's strategic vision and excellent track record will be important assets in building significant value for Pieris. We look forward to his leadership in ushering in an era of innovation and deal making at the company."

Yoder holds a BS in Molecular Biology, and a Juris Doctorate from The George Washington University Law School. He is an Attorney at Law and a Registered US Patent Attorney with substantial deal-making experience. While at MorphoSys, he closed scores of collaborations with several of the largest pharmaceutical companies world-wide, including the company's transforming deal with Novartis in 2007 and the recent formation of a new alliance with Daiichi-Sankyo.

"It is a pleasure to join an organization that combines world class investors, a unique technology with huge commercial potential and colleagues who are committed to constant innovation to deliver what our partners need most,” Yoder stated. "With our recent collaboration with Allergan focusing on ocular disorders and our phase-I study for PRS-050, our proprietary anti-VEGF Anticalin program, scheduled to commence in the first half of 2010, Pieris is proving the broad applicability of its technology. I am looking forward to leading the charge in our efforts to further commercialize our Anticalin platform and preclinical portfolio of proprietary Anticalin drugs."

Pieris is an independent biotechnology company devoted to Anticalins, a novel class of specific binding proteins that addresses an expansive range of therapeutic purposes and targets.

Anticalins are a recombinant, engineered format of lipocalins, which are endogenous human binding and transport proteins.