VANCOUVER, British Columbia & GUILFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BIOASIS TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (TSX.V:BTI; OTCQB:BIOAF), a biopharmaceutical company with a proprietary blood-brain barrier platform technology focused on development of therapeutics for the treatment of brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, today announced that Dr. Deborah Rathjen, B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., MAICD, FTSE, has been appointed as chair of the board of directors. She takes over from former board chair and chief executive officer Rob Hutchison, who retired on Dec. 4, 2017. Dr. Rathjen will continue to serve as a member of the compensation committee and has stepped down as chair of the audit committee, but will continue to serve as a member of the audit committee. A new audit committee chair will be appointed at a later date.
“We are absolutely delighted that Dr. Rathjen is the new chair of our board,” said Mark Day, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, Bioasis. “I first met Deborah in 2013 when I was heading neuroscience business development at Bristol Myers Squibb and was immediately impressed with her drive, enthusiasm and passion for science and drug development. Deborah is an inspirational leader and has built an amazing company at Bionomics with a really energized and synergistic team who have accomplished a leading CNS pipeline. From business a development perspective, Deborah has a strategic collaboration with Merck in Alzheimer’s Disease and under her leadership, Bionomics has developed exciting phase 2 studies in anxiety disorders and in post-traumatic stress disorder. Deborah’s expertise in running public companies paired with her scientific prowess makes her the ideal chair for our company at this transformational time.”
“I look forward to working with my fellow board members and the Bioasis executive team to help guide Bioasis into clinical development,” said Dr. Rathjen. “Delivering medicines across the blood-brain barrier remains a significant challenge and Bioasis intends to solve this problem with our differentiated xB3 platform technology, which offers tremendous potential for value creation. The utility of the xB3 platform and its mode of action holds significant promise to deliver a wide range of therapies into the brain in therapeutically relevant doses. As the team works to advance the xB3-001 program into development, we are strongly encouraged by the proof-of-concept data showing significant brain exposure, 68 percent reduction in tumor number and compelling target engagement in a human HER2+ breast cancer brain metastasis model.”
About Dr. Deborah Rathjen, B.Sc. (Hons), Ph.D., MAICD, FTSE
Dr. Rathjen is the chief executive officer and managing director at Bionomics. Dr. Rathjen joined Bionomics in 2000 from Peptech Limited, where she was the general manager of business development and licensing. Under Dr. Rathjen’s leadership, Bionomics has advanced treatments for several CNS disorders, such as anxiety, depression and Alzheimer's disease. The Company’s technologies include ionX for ion channel drug discovery and MultiCore a diversity-orientated small molecule chemistry platform. Bionomics operates in two geographical areas, Australia and France.
Dr. Rathjen was a co-inventor of Peptech's TNF technology and leader of the company's successful defense of its key TNF patents against a legal challenge by BASF and Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Rathjen has significant experience in company building and financing, mergers and acquisitions, therapeutic product research and development, business development, licensing and commercialization. Dr. Rathjen has been recognized both in Australia and internationally through awards and honors including the 2004 AusBiotech President's Medal, 2006 Flinders University Distinguished Alumni Award, 2009 BioSingapore Asia Pacific Biotechnology Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, 2009 Regional Finalist Ernst & Young - Entrepreneur of the Year, and 2014 Woman Executive of the Year BioPharm Industry Awards. In 2015 Dr. Rathjen was named amongst the top 50 most influential business women in Australia by The Australian newspaper. Dr. Rathjen received her doctor of philosophy degree in immunology from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia and her bachelor of science degree in immunology from Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia.
About Bioasis
Bioasis Technologies, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing xB3, a proprietary platform technology for the delivery of therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the treatment of CNS disorders, including brain cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. The delivery of therapeutics across the BBB represents the final frontier in treating neurological disorders. The in-house development programs at Bioasis are designed to develop symptomatic and disease-modifying treatments for brain-related diseases and disorders. The company maintains headquarters in Vancouver, Canada with offices in Guilford, Conn., United States. Bioasis trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “BTI” and on the OTCQB under the symbol “BIOAF.” For more information about the company please visit www.bioasis.ca or www.bioasis.us.
Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 or forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities legislation that may not be based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words “believe”, “may”, “plan”, “will”, “estimate”, “continue”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “expect” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, events or developments, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, events or developments express or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such factors include, among others, our stage of development, lack of any product revenues, additional capital requirements, risk associated with the completion of clinical trials and obtaining regulatory approval to market our products, the ability to protect our intellectual property, dependence on collaborative partners and the prospects for negotiating additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements and their timing. Specifically, certain risks and uncertainties that could cause such actual events or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from any future events or results expressed or implied by such statements and information include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties that: products that we develop may not succeed in preclinical or clinical trials, or future products in our targeted corporate objectives; our future operating results are uncertain and likely to fluctuate; we may not be able to raise additional capital; we may not be successful in establishing additional corporate collaborations or licensing arrangements; we may not be able to establish marketing and the costs of launching our products may be greater than anticipated; we have no experience in commercial manufacturing; we may face unknown risks related to intellectual property matters; we face increased competition from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; and other factors as described in detail in our filings with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities at www.sedar.com. Given these risks and uncertainties, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements and information, which are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. All forward-looking statements and information made herein are based on our current expectations and we undertake no obligation to revise or update such forward- looking statements and information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances, except as required by law.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Mark Day, Ph.D.,
President
& Chief Executive Officer
Bioasis Technologies, Inc.
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