| ASX/MEDIA RELEASE |
31
July
2006
|
Management
Changes
pSivida
Limited CEO steps down
Senior
Management Team Now Mainly US Based
Boston,
MA. and Perth, Australia - Global bio-nanotech company pSivida Limited (ASX:PSD,
NASDAQ:PSDV, Xetra:PSI) has today announced that Mr Gavin Rezos will be stepping
down for personal/family reasons as Managing Director and CEO of the Company
and
its subsidiaries.
The
Senior Management Team is now mainly based in the US, as corporate functions
have moved from Australia to the US. It remains, as previously announced, the
intention of the Company to recruit a US-based CEO with appropriate experience.
Interviews with prospective candidates are on-going. In the meantime, Dr Roger
Brimblecombe, Non-executive Chairman of the Company and the former Chairman,
Smith Kline & French Research Ltd and Vice-President R&D Europe, will
assume the role of acting CEO and Executive Chairman.
The
Company requires the CEO to spend the majority of time in Europe and the US
given that most of the staff and facilities are located there as well as several
significant institutional shareholders and business development partners. Mr.
Rezos has advised for personal/family reasons that he is unable to continue
to
spend most of his time in the US and Europe.
The
Company acknowledges the efforts of Mr. Rezos in growing the Company from a
AU$1
million start-up to over AU$130m today as the founding CEO and as a founding
shareholder. Under Mr Rezos, the Company was the best performing stock on the
ASX for the financial year ended June 2004, listed on the NASDAQ Global Market
and Frankfurt stock exchanges and acquired US based Control Delivery Systems,
considered “2005 M&A Deal of the Year” by the influential Australian
publication “Bioshares”.
The
company recently announced the appointment of Boston based executives, Mr
Michael Soja as CFO and Ms Lori Freedman as General Counsel and Company
Secretary. Dr Paul Ashton as Executive Director of Strategy is based in Boston.
Dr Mark Parry Billings based in the UK has been appointed Director Europe.
Mr.
Aaron Finlay, Company Secretary Australia, will manage the Australian operations
of the Company.
Mr
Rezos
has agreed to make himself available in Australia as the Company may request
his
assistance to achieve its goals pending the appointment of a new US based CEO.
-ENDS-
|
pSivida
Limited
Brian
Leedman
Investor
Relations
pSivida
Limited
Tel:
+ 61 8 9226 5099
brianl@psivida.com
|
US
Public Relations
Beverly
Jedynak
President
Martin
E. Janis & Company, Inc
Tel:
+1 (312) 943 1100 ext. 12
bjedynak@janispr.com
|
European
Public Relations
Eva
Reuter
Tel:
+49 (254) 393 0740
e.reuter@e-reuter-ir.com
|
NOTES
TO EDITORS:
pSivida
is a global bio-nanotech company committed to the biomedical sector and the
development of drug delivery products. Retisert™ is FDA approved for the
treatment of uveitis. Vitrasert® is FDA approved for the treatment of
AIDS-related CMV Retinitis. Bausch & Lomb own the trademarks Vitrasert® and
Retisert™. pSivida has licensed the technologies underlying both of these
products to Bausch & Lomb. The technology underlying Medidur™, a treatment
for diabetic macular edema, is licensed to Alimera Sciences and is in Phase
III
clinical trials.
pSivida
owns the rights to develop and commercialise a modified form of silicon
(porosified or nano-structured silicon) known as BioSilicon™, which has
applications in drug delivery, wound healing, orthopaedics, and tissue
engineering. pSivida’s subsidiary, AION Diagnostics Limited is developing
diagnostic products and the subsidiary pSiNutria is developing food technology
products both using BioSilicon™.
pSivida’s
intellectual property portfolio consists of 70 patent families, 74 granted
patents and over 290 patent applications.
pSivida
conducts its operations from offices and facilities near Boston in the United
States, Malvern in the United Kingdom, Perth in Australia and Singapore.
pSivida
is listed on NASDAQ (PSDV),
the
Australian Stock Exchange (PSD)
and on
the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the XETRA system (German Symbol:
PSI. Securities Code (WKN) 358705).
pSivida is a founding member of the NASDAQ Health Care Index and the Merrill
Lynch Nanotechnology Index.
The
Company's largest shareholder and a strategic partner is QinetiQ, a leading
international defence, security and Technology Company, formed in 2001 from
the
UK Government's Defence Evaluation & Research Agency (DERA). QinetiQ (QQ.)
was instrumental in discovering BioSiliconTM
and
pSivida’s strong relationship with QinetiQ includes access to its cutting edge
research and development facilities.
This
document contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties. The statements reference potential products, applications and
regulatory approvals. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in
such forward-looking statements are reasonable at this time, we can give no
assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Given these
uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such
forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those
anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to many important factors
including: our inability to develop proposed products, including without
limitation, in the drug delivery, wound healing, orthopaedics, and tissue
engineering, diagnostics and food technology fields; failure of our evaluation
agreements to result in license agreements; failure to develop applications
for
BioSilicon™ due to regulatory, scientific or other issues; failure to complete
negotiations for new centers for the BrachySil™ phase IIb clinical trial
for inoperable primary liver cancer; failure of our discussions with the FDA
for
BrachySil™ to continue or to lead to FDA approval; failure of the BrachySil™
phase IIb clinical trial for inoperable primary liver cancer to determine
the optimal dose, provide key safety data or support future pivotal efficacy
trials or product registration or approval; failure of the BrachySil™ primary
liver programme that is in phase IIb clinical trials to provide a
valuable platform for the development and commercialisation of BrachySil™ for
pancreatic cancer and other indications; failure to commence phase IIa
BrachySilTM
trials
for the treatment of pancreatic cancer; failure of the findings of the
pancreatic cancer phase IIa trial to provide a platform for further
multicentre efficacy and safety trials; failure of there to be
optimisation and standardisation between our two pancreatic
cancer study centres; failure of the results of the Retisert™ for DME
trial to be a good indicator of the results of pSivida’s ongoing phase III
Medidur™ for DME trial; failure of the
Medidur™
trials in
DME to show a very similar improvement in visual acuity and diabetic retinopathy
severity score as Retisert™
for
DME;
failure
of Medidur™ to release fluocinolone acetonide at the same rate as Retisert™; our
inability to recruit patients for the phase III Medidur™ for DME
trial;. Other
reasons are contained in cautionary statements in the Annual Report on Form
20-F
filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without
limitation, under Item 3.D, "Risk Factors" therein. We do not undertake to
update any oral or written forward-looking statements that may be made by or
on
behalf of pSivida.