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ARIAD Announces Appointment of European General Manager and Other Key Members of Leadership Team

February 21, 2013

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ARIA) today announced the appointment of Jonathan E. Dickinson to the position of General Manager, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (Europe), Sàrl. Mr. Dickinson is a seasoned commercial executive bringing more than 20 years of pharmaceutical-industry experience to ARIAD, with special emphasis on global and pan-European leadership of several important cancer medicines. Mr. Dickinson is responsible for leading ARIAD’s European commercialization initiatives -- focused first on the anticipated European approval and launch of Iclusig^® (ponatinib) in the third quarter of 2013 and subsequently on ARIAD’s other cancer medicines in development.

Jonathan E. Dickinson, General Manager, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals (Europe), Sàrl (Photo: Business Wire)

Mr. Dickinson joined ARIAD from Bristol-Myers Squibb, where he served for the past three years as the European brand lead for ipilimumab, responsible for the product’s European launch and commercialization in 29 countries. Previously, during his 13-year tenure at Hoffmann-La Roche, Mr. Dickinson held several key leadership positions, including lifecycle leader for capecitabine, where he managed global marketing, clinical development, regulatory affairs and manufacturing activities for the brand. At Roche, he had assignments both in the U.S. and Switzerland that included leadership roles of Roche’s three leading oncology medicines -- trastuzumab, rituximab, and capecitabine. Mr. Dickinson began his career at Novartis, where he held commercial roles in its oncology and endocrinology businesses, including medical sales, product manager and business director in the United Kingdom.

Mr. Dickinson received his B.Sc. degree in Genetics and his M.B.A. degree from the University of Nottingham. He is based at ARIAD’s European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland and reports to Marty J. Duvall, senior vice president, commercial operations of ARIAD.

“Jonathan is a proven leader with broad commercial and general management experience promoting several of the most highly regarded oncology medicines available today,” stated Harvey J. Berger, M.D., chairman and chief executive officer of ARIAD. “His knowledge of the evolving European market and his success in commercializing important cancer medicines throughout Europe and globally will serve us well as we prepare for anticipated approval and commercialization of Iclusig in the EU this year.”

Other Key European Appointments

Anna Casse – Head, Marketing and Sales. Ms. Casse joined ARIAD from Novartis, where she served as head of the nephrology business unit in Germany. Prior to this, as head of oncology marketing in Germany, she led the country launches of nilotinib and everolimus. Ms. Casse also served as head of the Novartis oncology business in Finland and oversaw global business development and licensing for Novartis Opthalmics. Prior to her eight-year tenure at Novartis, she spent four years in business development and strategic planning at Amgen Europe. She also worked as a consultant at Arthur Little in the Benelux countries. Ms. Casse has a B.S. from the University of Birmingham and an M.B.A. at the INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France.

Anant Murthy, Ph.D. – Head, Pricing, Reimbursement and Access. Dr. Murthy joined ARIAD from Celgene, where he was most recently the executive director and head of global pricing and market access for hematology and oncology. Previously, he expanded and led Celgene’s European pricing team to support the launches of lenalidomide, azacitidine, and nab-paclitaxel across the EMEA region. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Murthy worked in the reimbursement and health economics team for the CRDM business of Medtronic, Inc. Dr. Murthy has a B.A. from the University of Rochester, an M.S. in international health economics from the London School of Economics, and a Ph.D. in international health systems from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Kai C. Chan, M.D. - Head, Medical Affairs. Dr. Chan joined ARIAD from Genzyme (Sanofi), where he was European head of medical affairs for transplant oncology. Previously, Dr. Chan was with Johnson and Johnson as global medical lead for bortezomib lung- cancer development, and with AstraZeneca in oncology clinical research. Dr. Chan is a practicing surgeon at Wycombe Hospital in High Wycombe, U.K. Dr. Chan has a M.B., Ch.B., M.D., and M.Sc. in Oncology from the University of Manchester, a F.R.C.S. from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh , and a Diploma in Pharmaceutical Medicine from the University of Wales.

Thierry Bataillard – Head, Regulatory Affairs. Mr. Bataillard joined ARIAD from Merck Serono, where he held leadership positions in regulatory affairs within the oncology, endocrinology and diabetes businesses. He has a M.Sc. from the Institute of Industrial Pharmacy at the University of Bordeaux and a Pharm. D. from Claude Bernard University.

ARIAD has also hired the country managers for France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Each of them brings over a decade of experience commercializing cancer medicines.

“As we build an integrated global oncology company, the recruitment of this outstanding European team clearly demonstrates our commitment to success,” stated Marty J. Duvall, senior vice president, commercial operations of ARIAD. “Led by Jonathan Dickinson, ARIAD will be fully prepared for the anticipated EU approval and launch of Iclusig later this year.”

About ARIAD

ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Lausanne, Switzerland, is an integrated global oncology company focused on transforming the lives of cancer patients with breakthrough medicines. ARIAD is working on new medicines to advance the treatment of various forms of chronic and acute leukemia, lung cancer and other difficult-to-treat cancers. ARIAD utilizes computational and structural approaches to design small-molecule drugs that overcome resistance to existing cancer medicines. For additional information, visit http://www.ariad.com or follow ARIAD on Twitter (@ARIADPharm).

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” including, but not limited to, potential regulatory approvals, new indications or labeling for, or potential future sales of Iclusig. Forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, outcome of events, timing and performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, preclinical data and early-stage clinical data that may not be replicated in later-stage clinical studies, the costs associated with our research, development, manufacturing and other activities, the conduct, timing and results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of our product candidates, the adequacy of our capital resources and the availability of additional funding, and other factors detailed in the Company's public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The information contained in this press release is believed to be current as of the date of original issue. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this document to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the Company's expectations, except as required by law.