Regulus Theraputics names Xanthopoulos president and CEO

NEW YORK Kleanthis Xanthopoulos has been named president and chief executive of Regulus Therapeutics, a joint venture between Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Isis Pharmaceuticals

The joint venture focuses on microRNA technology, which controls protein production within cells and could be used to turn off certain genes, in effect treating a condition at the genetic level.

Xanthopoulos is co-founder, former president and chief executive officer of Anadys Pharmaceuticals, a company focusing on the development of novel medicines for the treatment of hepatitis C and cancer. and most recently was managing director of Enterprise Partners Venture Capital.

He participated in the National Institutes of Health Human Genome Project and was a section head of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1995 to 1997.