Hurel Corporation Makes New Appointment to Board

Hurel Corporation announced the appointment of James S. MacDonald, PhD, DABT to the Company’s Board of Directors.  Dr. MacDonald is the former Executive Vice President of Preclinical Development of the Schering-Plough Research Institute (“SPRI”), which was the pharmaceutical development arm of Schering Corporation prior to its acquisition by Merck & Co. in 2009.

Over a career that has spanned more than three decades, Dr. MacDonald has brought hundreds of drug candidates into development, over thirty of which have become globally registered, major drugs, including Vasotec®, Zocor®, Primaxin®, Clinoril®, Prilosec®, Fosamax®, Clarinex®, Nasonex®, Vytorin®, and Victrelis®, among others.  Dr. MacDonald joined SPRI in 1994 as Senior Vice President, Drug Safety and Metabolism, and, over the next 14 years up until the time of the Merck acquisition, he played a leading role in building one of the most distinguished and effective drug development organizations in the world.  As co-chairman of SPRI’s Early Development Committee, he directed the movement of drug candidates from discovery research into and through the development process.  Previously Dr. MacDonald held positions of increasing responsibility at Merck, including Executive Director of Toxicology.  He received his Ph.D. in toxicology in 1975 from the University of Cincinnati and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Vanderbilt University.  He became a diplomate of the American Board of Toxicology in 1980.

“Jim MacDonald’s track record of getting pharmaceuticals approved by FDA and onto the market speaks for itself,” said Robert Freedman, Hµrel’s Chairman and CEO.  “Hµrel is privileged to benefit from Jim’s extraordinary wisdom and experience, both as a scientist and as a drug development executive.  His guidance will be invaluable.  We welcome Jim to the Board as a colleague and friend.”