AMSTERDAM, January 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics (Euronext: AMT), a leader in the field of human gene therapy, today announced that further to its plan of rotation to appoint independent directors to its Supervisory Board, the company will submit the appointment of Mr. Philippe van Holle, Head of Celgene Europe (NASDAQ: CELG) to its Annual General Meeting of shareholders. Mr. Van Holle is expected to replace non-independent director Raj Parekh of Advent Venture Partners, one of AMT's shareholders, who will step down. In the course of 2008, AMT expects to submit the appointment of several other highly qualified independent directors to its shareholders to replace all the current non-independent directors. Mr. Van Holle has 30 years of marketing and sales experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Most notably he was responsible at Amgen Europe for the commercial roll-out of Neupogen (R) and Epogen (R), the two first biotech blockbuster products. Subsequently he served as an executive at Genzyme Europe, overseeing the commercialization of Genzyme's orphan drugs. In 2005, he joined Celgene as Head of Celgene Europe. Over the past few years Celgene has grown into the fourth largest biotechnology company worldwide with a market capitalization of approximately USD20 billion.

AMT's AGM is scheduled for April 16, and will take place at the Rosarium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

About Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics

AMT has a unique gene therapy platform that to date appears to circumvent many if not all of the obstacles that have prevented gene therapy from becoming a mainstay of clinical medicine. Using adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors as the delivery vehicle of choice for therapeutic genes, the company has been able to design and validate what is probably the first stable and scalable AAV production platform. As such, AMT's proprietary platform holds tremendous promise for thousands of rare (orphan) diseases that are caused by one faulty gene. AMT currently has a product pipeline with six products at different stages of development.

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements" including those that refer to management's plans and expectations for future operations, prospects and financial condition. Words such as "strategy," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "will," "continues," "estimates," "intends," "projects," "goals," "targets" and other words of similar meaning are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics only. Undue reliance should not be placed on these statements because, by their nature, they are subject to known and unknown risks and can be affected by factors that are beyond the control of AMT. Actual results could differ materially from current expectations due to a number of factors and uncertainties affecting AMT's business, including, but not limited to, the timely commencement and success of AMT's clinical trials and research endeavors, delays in receiving U.S. Food and Drug Administration or other regulatory approvals (i.e. EMEA, Health Canada), market acceptance of AMT's products, effectiveness of AMT's marketing and sales efforts, development of competing therapies and/or technologies, the terms of any future strategic alliances, the need for additional capital, the inability to obtain, or meet, conditions imposed for required governmental and regulatory approvals and consents. AMT expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements except as required by law. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting AMT, refer to the prospectus of AMT's initial public offering on June 20, 2007, and AMT's public announcements made from time to time.

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For information, Andre Verwei, CFO, +31-20-566-5686, a.verwei@amtbiopharma.com; Hans Herklots, +31-20-566-8125, h.herklots@amtbiopharma.com