13th Jul 2006 07:00
AGI Therapeutics plc13 July 2006 AGI Therapeutics plc Appoints Chris Blackwell as Non-Executive Director Dublin, Ireland, 13th July 2006 - AGI Therapeutics plc ("AGI" or the "Company"),a speciality pharmaceutical company focused on gastrointestinal drug products,today announces the appointment of Dr. Chris Blackwell, Chief Executive ofVectura Group plc, to its Board of Directors. Vectura is a UK-based pulmonary product development company listed on London'sAlternative Investment Market. Dr. Blackwell joined Vectura in October 2002 andwas appointed Chief Executive in February 2004. He led the company's flotationin July 2004, raising £20m, and more recently in June 2006, the £45m secondaryplacing. Dr. Blackwell trained as a research scientist at the University of Bath, wherehe completed his doctorate in 1988. He joined Glaxo Research and Development in1988 as a Clinical Pharmacologist and progressed to a management role beforemoving to Hoffman La-Roche, becoming UK Director, Global Project Management in1996. Dr. Blackwell joined Scotia Pharmaceuticals plc in 1998, where he servedas Executive Director, Drug Development. Commenting on the appointment, Dr. Ronan Lambe, Chairman of the Board of AGI,said: "I am delighted to have Dr. Blackwell join the Board of AGI as an independentdirector. Chris brings with him a wealth of industry experience and hasachieved remarkable success with Vectura. We look forward to the benefit of hiscounsel as we seek to establish AGI as a successful speciality pharmaceuticalcompany." There are no details that are required to be disclosed under Schedule 2,paragraph (g) of the AIM and IEX Rules. Contact Information AGI Therapeutics Tel: +353 1 449 3254David Kelly, Chief Financial Officer Financial Dynamics - UK Tel: +44 (0) 20 7831 3113Sarah MacLeod Financial Dynamics - Ireland Tel: +353 1 663 3607Aisling Garvey For further information please see www.agitherapeutics.com About AGI Therapeutics AGI is a speciality pharmaceutical company which is focused on the developmentand commercialisation of differentiated drug products for gastrointestinal("GI") diseases and disorders. The Company has a portfolio of product candidates derived from the KnownMolecular Entity ("KME") approach to drug re-profiling and development. KME isa re-profiling methodology used by the Company to identify existing therapeuticdrugs which typically have been marketed for a number of years, have establishedsafety profiles and can be developed for new clinical indications or withimproved profiles in their existing clinical indications. In this way, theCompany seeks to reduce the risk, time and cost of new product development ascompared to the development of new chemical entities. AGI has developed a range of product candidates to treat a variety of prevalentGI diseases and disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, functionaldyspepsia, ulcerative colitis and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. The Companyis targeting areas of the GI therapeutic drug products market for its productcandidates where there are currently unmet medical needs or where theeffectiveness of existing drug therapies can be further improved. The Company has six clinical stage product candidates which are either isomersor new drug delivery formulations of existing approved drugs, and which haveestablished safety and tolerability profiles in their currently approvedclinical indications. These product candidates are all in clinical development,including five Phase II trials. AGI intends to complete its ongoing clinical trials and, dependent on theresults of these trials, the Company will initiate Phase III development of alead product candidate and will also seek to enter into licensing anddevelopment agreements with pharmaceutical companies so as to enhance the globalmarket reach for its products and achieve optimal revenue and valueopportunities for the Company. Statements contained within this press release may contain forward-lookingcomments which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results tovary from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In some cases, youcan identify such forward-looking statements by terminology such as 'may', 'will', 'could', 'forecasts', 'expects', 'plans', 'anticipates', 'believes', 'estimates', 'predicts', 'potential', or 'continue'. Predictions andforward-looking references in this press release are subject to the satisfactoryprogress of research which is, by nature, unpredictable. Forward projectionsreflect management's best estimates based on information available at the timeof issue This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Potentially Ai