Chimerix Names Two New Executives: Peter Payne as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Corporate Strategy, and Roberto Guzman, JD, MBA, MCLFS, as Vice President, Corporate Compliance

DURHAM, N.C., Nov. 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chimerix, Inc. (Nasdaq:CMRX), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, oral antivirals, today announced the appointments of Peter Payne as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Strategy, and Roberto Guzman as Vice President of Corporate Compliance. Mr. Payne will oversee Chimerix's Business Development efforts as the company continues to derive additional value from its pipeline and evaluate complementary products that may further enhance the company's portfolio. Mr. Guzman will have responsibility for the design, implementation, and oversight of the Chimerix Compliance Program.

M. Michelle Berrey, MD, MPH, President and CEO, said, "We continue to build our corporate infrastructure and expand our management team in critical areas of the company with the appointments of Peter and Roberto. As we look toward the data readout for SUPPRESS and AdVise and progression toward commercial launch for brincidofovir, Peter and Roberto bring much-needed expertise in the areas of business development, operations, and quality that are essential for Chimerix to continue on this trajectory of success."

Mr. Payne brings to Chimerix broad and significant experience in the pharmaceutical, diagnostics and contract research industries where he has held a number of senior management and business development positions in the United States and Europe. Mr. Payne most recently served as a strategy consultant to Quantum Leap Healthcare, a California non-profit that has developed an innovative approach to accelerating the regulatory approval process for new drugs for the treatment of breast cancer, and was the co-founder and CEO of eXcelerate Research. Mr. Payne previously served as Vice President, Corporate Development at Quintiles, and held senior roles at Wellcome Research Labs, Sterling Drug and Glaxo Group Research. Mr. Payne holds an Honors Degree in Pharmacology from the University of Manchester, UK and has completed post-graduate training at the University of North Carolina and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Mr. Guzman will provide Chimerix with a wide range of experience in legal, regulatory affairs, and Quality Assurance/Quality Control. He has been responsible for the implementation and management of GXP quality and regulatory systems for start-up companies, negotiation of critical MSAs, and management of PreApproval and GMP inspections by US FDA and international agencies such as China FDA, and European Medicines Agency (EMA) and has implemented programs on corporate ethics and grants management. Mr. Guzman most recently served as Corporate Regulatory Affairs Director at Smith and Nephew where he was responsible for global regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Mr. Guzman previously held positions in Regulatory and Quality Control at Cleveland Biolabs, Inc., Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Biomerieux North America, and Novartis-Ciba Vision Division. He received his JD from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Master of Chemical and Life Sciences at the University of Maryland-College Park, MBA from the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, and a BS in Industrial Engineering at Polytechnic University.

About Chimerix
Chimerix is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering, developing and commercializing novel, oral antivirals in areas of high unmet medical need. Chimerix's proprietary technology has produced brincidofovir (CMX001), a clinical-stage nucleotide analog lipid-conjugate, which has demonstrated potent antiviral activity and safety in convenient, orally administered dosing regimens. Chimerix is currently enrolling SUPPRESS, a Phase 3 study of brincidofovir for the prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) in adult hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. In addition, Chimerix is enrolling the pilot portion of the Phase 3 AdVise trial of brincidofovir for treatment of adenovirus (AdV) infection. Chimerix is working with BARDA to develop brincidofovir as a medical countermeasure against smallpox. Chimerix has also received authorization from the FDA to begin a Phase 2 study of brincidofovir in patients with Ebola Virus Disease. For further information, please visit Chimerix's website, www.chimerix.com.

Contact
Joseph T. Schepers
Executive Director, Investor Relations
and Corporate Communications
ir @chimerix.com
919-287-412