Lexicon Genetics Incorporated announced that William E. Heydorn has joined the Company as vice president of pre-clinical development, responsible for directing the advance of promising drug candidates from Lexicon's discovery programs towards investigational new drug (IND) filings. During his career, Dr. Heydorn has developed an expertise in central nervous system disorders and has been responsible for filing new drug applications (NDAs) for candidates in depression, anxiety, Alzheimer's disease, hypertension and acute pain. He has held positions with major pharmaceutical companies, a biotechnology company and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Bill's experience covers all aspects of pre-clinical evaluation of novel compounds," said Arthur T. Sands, president and chief executive officer of Lexicon. "He will play an important role in moving our drug candidates into clinical development."

Dr. Heydorn brings Lexicon over fifteen years of experience in pre- clinical and clinical drug development, pharmaceutical operations, project management and regulatory affairs across multiple therapeutic areas in the pharmaceutical industry. Most recently, Dr Heydorn served as director, medical affairs, and director, scientific communications at Forest Laboratories, Inc. Prior to that, he served as director, pharmaceutical operations at Synaptic Pharmaceutical Corporation. Dr. Heydorn has also held positions at Merrell Dow/Marion Merrell Dow, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Mental Health. He has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and more than 80 abstracts. He holds a B.S. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.