15th Apr 2008 07:00
Oxford Biomedica PLC15 April 2008 For Immediate Release 15 APRIL 2008 OXFORD BIOMEDICA ANNOUNCES BOARD CHANGES - New Appointments Aligned with Strategy for Growth and Commercialisation - Oxford, UK - 15 April 2008: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a leading gene therapycompany, today announces changes to the composition of its Board of Directors.These changes reflect the Company's stage of growth and are aligned with itsstrategic focus on clinical development and commercialisation of its lead drugcandidates. Dr Peter Johnson, aged 72, will retire as Non-Executive Chairman. Professor AlanKingsman will be appointed as Chairman and will be succeeded as Chief ExecutiveOfficer by Dr Mike McDonald, currently Chief Medical Officer. Professor SusanKingsman will retire as Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director. Shewill be succeeded by Dr Stuart Naylor, currently Senior Vice President, Research& Development, who will be appointed to the Board. Susan Kingsman will continueto serve the Company on an exclusive basis as Senior Scientific Consultant. NickRodgers, the Company's Senior Independent Director, will assume the role ofDeputy Chairman. These Board changes will become effective on 1 July 2008. Oxford BioMedica iscommitted to good corporate governance, including appropriate independentdirector representation on the Board. The Board was recently furtherstrengthened by the appointment of Dr Alex Lewis as Non-Executive Director andthe Company is seeking to make another Non-Executive appointment. Peter Johnson has been Chairman of Oxford BioMedica since 2001 and, on retiring,will have been a member of the Board for nine years. Alan Kingsman co-foundedOxford BioMedica and is an inventor on many of the Company's major patents. Hehas led the Company as Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 1995. Inassuming the position of Chairman, he will continue to contribute to theCompany's strategic development, particularly in the areas of new productinnovation and intellectual property. Mike McDonald brings over 20 years of experience in clinical drug developmentand regulatory leadership. He joined Oxford BioMedica in 2005 from SeattleGenetics, a US-based biotechnology company, where he was Chief Medical Officerand directed the clinical development of their monoclonal antibody products.Previously, Mike spent nine years with Eli Lilly where he led the EuropeanMedical, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance and Health Economics functions beforetaking on the role of Worldwide Vice President, Clinical Research and MedicalAffairs based in the USA. Before that he was at SmithKline Beecham for sevenyears where he was involved in worldwide clinical development and regulatorymanagement and he was also a member of the Pharmaceutical Development StrategyCommittee. Through these roles Mike has been instrumental in the successfuldevelopment and registration of numerous "blockbuster" products, particularly inthe fields of neuroscience and oncology. These include Zyprexa(R) forschizophrenia (peaks sales >US$4 billion), Paxil(R) for depression (peak sales >US$3 billion), Evista(R) for osteoporosis (peak sales >US$1 billion), Gemzar(R)for pancreatic cancer (peak sales >US$1 billion), Humalog(R) for diabetes (peaksales >US$1 billion) and Kytril(R) for emesis (peak sales >US$0.5 billion). Mikereceived his medical degree from Edinburgh University; he is a member of theRoyal College of Physicians in London, holds a Diploma in PharmaceuticalMedicine and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Physicians. He hasserved on operational committees of the Association of the BritishPharmaceutical Industry and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical IndustryAssociations and on the editorial board of Applied Clinical Trials. Stuart Naylor has been with Oxford BioMedica since its inception. He joined theCompany from the Institute of Cancer Research and has been a major figure in thetechnical development of the Company's oncology programmes as well as pioneeringOxford BioMedica's ocular products, including RetinoStat(R) for the treatment ofage-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy and StarGen(TM) for the treatment of Stargardt disease. Stuart has a first degree in Microbiology and Immunology, a Masters degree in Immunology and a PhD in Cancer Studies. As required by the UK Combined Code on Corporate Governance, these appointmentshave been discussed in advance with major shareholders. The appointment processhas been led by the Senior Independent Director as Chairman of the NominationCommittee who commissioned an independent review of potential externalcandidates. In reaching its recommendation, the Nomination Committee, composedentirely of Non-Executive Directors and the Chairman, considered OxfordBioMedica's technical foundations, future development and the significantbenefits of continuity to the Company and its shareholders. Oxford BioMedica continues to make progress in line with the guidance andobjectives reported with its 2007 annual results on 10 March 2008. Commenting on his retirement from the Board, Peter Johnson said: "It has been agreat pleasure being part of the team at Oxford BioMedica that has seen theCompany progress from an early-stage research organisation to become a leadingUK biopharmaceutical company with products in advanced clinical development. Iwish the Company well as it continues to expand its development activities andprepares for the commercialisation of its lead products." Alan Kingsman commented on the Board changes: "As Oxford BioMedica has evolvedand grown, the emphasis is more and more on clinical development andcommercialisation. The Company now needs a leader with broad and deep experiencein the development, registration and launch of products. Mike McDonald, with hisextensive pharmaceutical company experience, ticks all of the boxes for such aleadership position. I look forward to working with Mike, as we take OxfordBioMedica to its next stage of corporate and commercial success. I would alsolike to this opportunity to thank Peter Johnson for his valuable contributionsto the Company as both Non-Executive Director and Chairman. We all wish Peterwell for the future." Commenting on his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Mike McDonald said: "Iam both delighted and honoured to accept this position. Oxford BioMedica is anexceptional Company with considerable potential. Our success in bringing ourfirst Phase III study to full recruitment on time and on budget and our recentinitiation of the first ever European gene therapy trial for Parkinson's diseaseare testaments to the quality of the team at Oxford BioMedica. I look forward toleading that team into the next phase of the Company's growth and continuing towork closely with Alan Kingsman to deliver shareholder value and patient benefitfrom this uniquely innovative product portfolio." -Ends- For further information, please contact:Oxford BioMedica plc: Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0)1865 783 000JPMorgan Cazenove Limited: James Mitford/ Gina Gibson Tel: +44 (0)20 7588 2828City/Financial Enquiries: Lisa Baderoon/ Mark Court/ Mary-Jane Johnson Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000Buchanan CommunicationsScientific/Trade Press Enquiries: Holly Griffiths/ Katja Stout Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020 College Hill Life SciencesUS Enquiries: Thomas Fechtner Tel: (646) 378 2900 The Trout Group LLC Notes to editors 1. Oxford BioMedica Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB) is a biopharmaceutical company specialising incancer immunotherapy and gene-based therapies. The Company was established in1995, as a spin-out from Oxford University, and is listed on the London StockExchange. The Company has a platform of gene delivery technologies, which are based onhighly engineered viral systems. Oxford BioMedica also has in-house clinical,regulatory and manufacturing know-how. The lead product candidate is TroVax(R),an immunotherapy for multiple solid cancers, which is licensed to sanofi-aventisfor global development and commercialisation. TroVax is in Phase IIIdevelopment. Oxford BioMedica has three other products in clinical development,including ProSavin(R), a novel gene-based treatment for Parkinson's disease, ina Phase I/II trial. The Company is underpinned by over 80 patent families, whichrepresent one of the broadest patent estates in the field. The Company has astaff of approximately 85. Oxford BioMedica has collaborations withsanofi-aventis, Wyeth, Sigma-Aldrich, MolMed and Virxsys. Technology licenseesinclude Biogen Idec, Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. Further information is available at www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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