Dr. John Yates has been appointed to the newly created position of chief medical officer at Array BioPharma, Inc. Dr. Yates will oversee the medical strategy and clinical development of the company’s cancer and inflammation pipeline.

“John will bring strong leadership to Array’s growing clinical drug pipeline,” said Robert E. Conway, chief executive officer. “We believe John’s expertise in advancing blockbuster drugs through the clinic will be a competitive advantage for Array as we project to have as many as ten programs in human clinical development by the end of 2007.”

Dr. Yates has 17 years of pharmaceutical business experience at Merck & Co. and Takeda Pharmaceuticals. He also has ten years of research experience at academic medical institutions around the world. Most recently, he was president of Takeda’s global R&D center where he was responsible for pharmaceutical development from first in man through commercialization. From 2004 to 2007, Dr. Yates was involved in the development of more than 25 compounds. During his tenure at Takeda, he supported four successful NDAs.

Dr. Yates spent 13 years at Merck where he held positions of increasing responsibility. He served as vice president of U.S. medical and scientific affairs in 2000 where he was responsible for all U.S. Phase IV studies, supporting 15 marketed or soon-to-be-marketed products as well as conducting outcome research and health economic studies. Dr. Yates was also responsible for all other aspects of medical and scientific support for the U.S., including medical services, academic affairs and the regional medical director program. From 1990 through 2000, Dr. Yates led the clinical development of Fosamax.