Trevena CEO, Maxine Gowen, Ph.D., Named "Best Executive" at Annual Stevie(R) Awards Ceremony

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KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Trevena, Inc., a leader in the discovery and development of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) biased ligands, today announced that Maxine Gowen, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, was named the 2010 "Best Executive: Non-Services Business" in the 7th Annual Stevie Awards for Women in Business, presented at the Annual Awards Dinner and Ceremony held on November 12, 2010 in New York City.

Dr. Gowen was selected from more than 1,200 nominees across several categories at this international award competition. A board of 78 judges and advisors from around the world selected the Stevie Award winners from among the finalists. Dr. Gowen was recognized as "Best Executive" for non-service organizations with up to 100 employees. The Stevie Award follows Dr. Gowen's selection by FierceBiotech in August 2010 as one of the Top 10 Women in Biotech.

"I am so honored to be selected for this award, especially given the group of respected and innovative women business leaders under consideration," said Dr. Gowen. "Receiving this award is positive validation of the exciting work we're doing at Trevena to bring biased GPCR ligands to the clinic as better medicines. It is a great privilege to work with the superb team at Trevena with whom I share this award."

Dr. Gowen has been successful in her career as both a scientist and as a business leader. Prior to joining Trevena as the founding CEO in 2007, Dr. Gowen held a variety of leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) over a period of 15 years. As senior vice president for the Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD), she developed an innovative new approach to externalizing drug discovery. Dr. Gowen was previously president and managing partner at SR One, the venture capital subsidiary of GSK, where she led its investments in and served on the board of directors of numerous companies. Dr. Gowen also had leadership roles in research both at GSK and in the School of Pharmacology, University of Bath, UK, where she held a tenured academic position. She has authored more than 100 refereed scientific publications.

Dr. Gowen graduated with a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Bristol, UK, received a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Sheffield, UK, and received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Gowen is currently serving on the Board of Directors of Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) and the Board of Directors of the Biotechnology Industry Association (BIO). She also chairs an advisory board at GSK.

About The Stevie Awards

Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. Honoring organizations of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about the Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Sponsors of the 2010 Stevie Awards for Women in Business include the Business TalkRadio Network, which broadcast the November 12 awards presentations live across the U.S.A., and KeyBank. Localization partner of the 2010 Stevie Awards is Lionbridge.

About Trevena

Trevena, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing the next generation of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targeted medicines. Despite the past success of GPCR drugs, there is huge scope to enhance the therapeutic properties of these molecules through targeted signaling. Trevena designs "biased ligands" that activate only those biological pathways at the receptor associated with beneficial effects, allowing them to unlock new biology and avoid drug side effects. Trevena's lead program TRV120027 is a b-arrestin biased ligand to the angiotensin receptor (AT1R) in development for acute heart failure. Trevena has a set of opioid receptor biased ligand programs for pain indications currently in lead optimization. The company also has a number of other early-stage discovery projects. Founded in 2008, Trevena is based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania and is a privately held company backed by leading investors including Alta Partners, Healthcare Ventures, NEA, Polaris and Yasuda Enterprise Development Company. For more information about the company, please visit www.trevenainc.com. 


    Source: Trevena, Inc.

Released November 18, 2010