TIDMMEDG TIDMMEDU
RNS Number : 1106I
Medgenics Inc
09 June 2011
June 9, 2011
LEADING BIOTECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEUR AND INVESTOR ISAAC BLECH
JOINS MEDGENICS BOARD OF DIRECTORS
MISGAV, Israel and VIENNA, Va. (June 8, 2011) - Medgenics, Inc.
(NYSE Amex: MDGN and AIM: MEDU, MEDG) today announced that Isaac
Blech, age 61, a leading biotechnology entrepreneur and investor,
has joined the Company's Board of Directors. Mr. Blech has served
on the Company's Strategic Advisory Board since February 2011 and
is a major investor in the Company having invested over $7 million
in the Company over the past year. The Medgenics Board of Directors
now has seven members.
Mr. Blech is one of the most successful private financiers in
the biotechnology industry. As an industry pioneer, he founded
seven companies, all of which were subsequently brought public.
These include Celgene Corporation, Genetic Systems Corporation,
Icos Corporation, Nova Pharmaceuticals Corporation and PathoGenesis
Corporation. These companies are responsible for major advances in
a number of diseases including the diagnosis and/or treatment of
cancer, chlamydia, sexual dysfunction, cystic fibrosis and AIDS.
Their combined value is in excess of $30 billion.
Mr. Blech is a major shareholder and a Director of Socialwise,
Inc., an innovator in e-commerce for the youth market, and is also
a major shareholder and Director of ContraFect Corporation, a
company developing therapies for infectious diseases, Mr. Blech is
also a major shareholder of the public companies Premier Alliance
Group, a financial consulting company, and Stratus Media Group, an
owner, producer, promoter and operator of live entertainment
events. Mr. Blech is also a founder, Director and major shareholder
of Cerecor Inc., a private company developing new treatments for
central nervous system disorders.
"It is with great pleasure that we welcome Isaac to our Board of
Directors. Isaac's in-depth experience in biotechnology
commercialization and his impressive professional network should be
instrumental in helping us build Medgenics into a leading
biotechnology company pioneering personalized sustained therapy
using our Biopump platform for continuous production and delivery
of therapeutic proteins by the patient's own skin. We look forward
to Isaac's active involvement and support as a Director, as we
advance our platform technology toward commercialization in a
number of chronic diseases." stated Andrew L. Pearlman, Ph.D.,
President and CEO of Medgenics.
Commenting on his appointment, Isaac Blech said, "Medgenics is
demonstrating its ability to use a patient's own tissue to create
Biopumps that, when inserted back into that patient, are designed
to deliver sustained production of the desired protein. This is
potentially a major scientific and medical breakthrough which has
the ability to change the treatment paradigm across a range of
chronic diseases. I am delighted to be working with the Medgenics
team and look forward to guiding them in the successful clinical
development and commercialization of this powerful technology."
Formal DisclosureRequired under the AIM Rules for Companies
The Company makes the following formal disclosure in connection
with the appointment of Mr. Blech:
Full name: Isaac Blech
Age: 61
Directorships or partnerships held in the previous 5 years:
Current Directorships
Contrafect Corp, Socialwise, Inc. Cerecor, Inc., Premier
Alliance (nominated)
Past Directorships
None
Current interests in Medgenics
Mr. Blech currently owns, directly or through trusts, 1,644,053
Common Shares (representing 17.1% of the outstanding share
capital), warrants to purchase an additional 1,000,000 shares at a
price of U.S. $6.00 per Common Share and expiring on April 12, 2016
, warrants to purchase 230,357 shares at a price of U.S. $4.54 per
Common Share and expiring on September 22, 2015 and options to
purchase 19,068 shares vesting over three years from December 10,
2011 at a price of U.S. $6.65 per Common Share and expiring on
December 10, 2020. Mr. Blech's total interests are therefore
2,893,478 Common Shares representing 30.0% of the Company's current
issued share capital (excluding all derivative securities).
Save as disclosed above, there is no other information required
to be disclosed under Schedule 2, paragraph (g) of the AIM Rules
for Companies.
For further information, contact:
Medgenics, Inc. Phone: +972 4 902 8900
Dr. Andrew L. Pearlman Phone: 212-838-3777
Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates,
Inc.
Anne Marie Fields
afields@lhai.com
De Facto Financial Phone: +44 207 556 1064
Mike Wort
Anna Dunphy
Religare Capital Markets (Nomad) Phone: +44 207 444 0800
James Pinner
Derek Crowhurst
SVS Securities plc (Joint Broker) Phone: +44 207 638 5600
Alex Mattey
Ian Callaway
Nomura Code Securities (Joint Broker) Phone: +44 207 776 1219
Jonathan Senior
About Medgenics
Medgenics is developing and commercializing Biopump, a
proprietary tissue-based platform technology for the sustained
production and delivery of therapeutic proteins using the patient's
own skin biopsy for the treatment of a range of chronic diseases
including anemia, hepatitis C and hemophilia. Medgenics believes
this approach has multiple benefits compared with current
treatments, which include regular and costly injections of
therapeutic proteins.
Medgenics has three long-acting protein therapy products in
development based on this technology:
-- EPODURE (now completing a Phase I/II dose-ranging trial) to
produce and deliver erythropoietin for many months from a single
administration, has demonstrated elevation and stabilization of
hemoglobin levels in anemic patients for 6 to more than 24
months;
-- INFRADURE (to commence a Phase I/II trial in Israel in 2011)
to produce a sustained therapeutic dose of interferon-alpha for use
in the treatment hepatitis C;
-- HEMODURE is a sustained Factor VIII therapy for the
prophylactic treatment of hemophilia, now in development.
Medgenics intends to develop its innovative products and bring
them to market via strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical
and/or medical device companies. Since October 2009, HEMODURE has
been the focus of cooperation between Medgenics and a major
healthcare company, a market leader in hemophilia.
In addition to treatments for anemia, hepatitis C and
hemophilia, Medgenics plans to develop and/or out-license a
pipeline of future Biopump products targeting the large and rapidly
growing global protein therapy market, which is forecast to reach
$132 billion in 2013. Other potential applications for Biopumps
include multiple sclerosis, arthritis, pediatric growth hormone
deficiency, obesity and diabetes.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term is defined
in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which
include all statements other than statements of historical fact,
including (without limitation) those regarding the Company's
financial position, its development and business strategy, its
product candidates and the plans and objectives of management for
future operations. The Company intends that such forward-looking
statements be subject to the safe harbors created by such laws.
Forward-looking statements are sometimes identified by their use of
the terms and phrases such as "estimate," "project," "intend,"
"forecast," "anticipate," "plan," "planning, "expect," "believe,"
"will, " "will likely," "should," "could," "would," "may" or the
negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. All such
forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and
are subject to risks and uncertainties. Should any of these risks
or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially
from those included within these forward-looking statements.
Accordingly, no undue reliance should be placed on these
forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.
The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to
disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking
statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's
expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based.
As a result of these factors, the events described in the
forward-looking statements contained in this release may not
occur.
# # #
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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