The News

Innate Pharma appoints Mr. Hemanshu Shah as Chief Business officer and starts operations in the USA

23/04/2008

Marseilles, France, April 23, 2008
Innate Pharma S.A. (Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH), a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class drugs targeting the innate immune system, announces today the strengthening of its management team, with the recruitment of Mr. Hemanshu Shah as Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer (“CBO”), in the context of the start of its operations in the USA.

Mr Shah will be a member of the Company’s Executive Committee. Prior to joining Innate Pharma, Mr. Shah spent his whole career in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on development and marketing activities in oncology, firstly with US pharmaceutical companies such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson and then with the German biotechnology company GPC Biotech. His last position at GPC Biotech was Vice President, Commercial Operations. Mr. Shah has a B.Pharmacy degree from the University of Bombay (India), a PhD. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Rutgers (NJ, USA) and an MBA from the SUNY-Buffalo University (NY, USA).

The recruitment of Mr. Shah coincides with the start of the Company’s US operations. Innate Pharma, Inc., a Delaware company fully-owned by Innate Pharma SA, was incorporated in early March 2008. Located in the vicinity of New York City, it will be firstly used to conduct the business and corporate development activities of Innate Pharma in North America. Medical and regulatory activities will start when the Company initiates the clinical development of its compounds in the USA.

Mr. Jérôme Tiollier, previously Director of Development and Operations of Innate Pharma, was appointed President of Innate Pharma, Inc. His primary responsibility will be to start the operations in the USA and notably to work with Mr. Shah on building the business and managing corporate development activities locally. Mr. Tiollier is also a member of the Company’s Executive Committee.

Both Mr. Shah and Tiollier will be based in the USA.

“Mr. Hemanshu Shah is an excellent addition to our management team: he has expertise in negotiating business alliances, a vision of the pharmaceutical industry through his background in large pharmaceutical companies and significant experience in preparing organizations for the marketing of new products” stated Hervé Brailly, Innate Pharma's CEO. He added: “The start of our US operations, under the leadership of Jerôme Tiollier who has been with Innate Pharma from almost the start, is an additional signal of the confidence we have in our business on the long run”.

“I am very pleased to join an ambitious company like Innate Pharma as I am impressed by both the quality of the team and the innovative therapeutic approach of the Company” said Hemanshu Shah, newly appointed EVP and CBO of Innate Pharma. He added: “I am very excited to introduce Innate Pharma in the United States, the largest pharmaceutical and biotechnology market in the world”.

About Innate Pharma:
Founded in 1999 and funded by reference venture capitalists up to its IPO on Euronext in Paris in 2006, Innate Pharma S.A. (Euronext Paris: FR0010331421 – IPH) is a biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class* drugs targeting innate immunity. The pioneering work of Innate Pharma’s scientific founders and research groups has led to the development of three product platforms (gamma delta T cells, NK cells and TLR), each directly or indirectly validated in clinical oncology settings.
Besides cancer, Innate Pharma’s drug candidates have development potential in the treatment of infectious disease and chronic inflammation. The company's most advanced molecule is in Phase II clinical trials in cancer and infections. With its strong scientific position in innate immunity pharmacology, its robust intellectual property portfolio and its R&D expertise, Innate Pharma intends to become a leading player in the rapidly growing immunotherapeutics market.
Based in Marseilles, France, Innate Pharma had 85 employees as of December 31, 2007.

Press and Analyst Contacts:
Innate Pharma Alize Public Relations
Laure-Hélène Mercier,
Director, Investor Relations
Caroline Carmagnol
Phone: +33 (0)1 41 22 06 59
Phone: +33 (0)4 88 66 05 87 Mob: +33 (0)6 64 18 99 59
lmercier@innate-pharma.fr caroline@alizerp.com
* with new mechanisms of action.