Directorate Change

RNS Number : 0709I

RUA Life Sciences PLC

10 August 2021

 

RUA Life Sciences plc

("RUA Life Sciences", the "Company" or the "Group")

Directorate Change

Withdrawal of Annual General Meeting (AGM) Resolution

RUA Life Sciences (AIM:RUA) , the holding company of a group of medical device businesses focused on the exploitation of the world's leading long-term implantable biostable polymer (Elast-Eon^TM), announces the following board changes and plans for further senior management recruitment.

David Richmond, the founder of RUA Medical Devices Limited ("RUA Medical"), which was acquired by the Group on 1 April 2020, who has been Group CEO since the acquisition of RUA Medical, has decided to retire from business activities and, as such, will no longer be offering himself for re-election at the Company's forthcoming Annual General Meeting ("AGM") to be held on 31 August 2021 and will retire and resign as a director and employee of the Company at the conclusion of the AGM.

David's technical knowledge and product innovation expertise will remain available to the Group as he will provide consultancy services to the Group and the Research and Development team in particular.

The Company is pleased to announce that Dr Caroline Stretton, currently Executive Director and Group Chief Operating Officer, will assume the role of Group Managing Director on David's retirement with effect from the conclusion of the AGM.

Caroline was recruited in March 2018 by RUA Medical as Chief Executive Officer to strengthen and professionalise its senior management team to meet the needs of a growing medical technology business. Caroline was appointed to the Board of RUA Life Sciences in January 2021.

In addition, Matthew Litton who has been involved with the RUA Medical business since its formation in 2004 will be promoted from Chief Technical Officer of RUA Medical to a new group role of Director - Research and Development. This is a newly created non-Board role and Matthew will report to Dr Caroline Stretton. Matthew has an extensive engineering background covering both electronic and mechanical fields from a medical textiles-based career spanning over 25 years. Matthew has developed a number of medical devices actively sold on the global market, and currently leads RUA Medical's team of R&D engineers of various skill bases in new product development.

RUA Life Sciences intends to further strengthen its senior management team by recruiting for a newly created role of Head of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs together with a Chief Financial Officer/Finance Director, for which search processes are currently being undertaken and details of the successful candidates will be announced in due course.

In light of Mr Richmond's decision to retire and resign from the Company's board of directors (the "Board") on 31 August 2021, which is the date of the AGM, the Board confirms that the resolution to re-elect Mr Richmond as a Director of the Company as referred to in the Notice of AGM (resolution number 5), is now withdrawn. The withdrawal of resolution number 5 does not otherwise affect the validity of the Notice of AGM, the proxy form or any proxy votes already submitted on other proposed resolutions. The numbering of all other proposed resolutions at the AGM will remain unchanged.

David Richmond, founder of RUA Medical Devices , commented: "In 2018, when Caroline Stretton was recruited by RUA Medical, my focus became developing a long-term growth strategy for RUA Medical. Since then, RUA Medical has become the engine room of the Group and I have successfully overseen the development of the Elast-Eon ^TM coating technology that has become the core enabling technology for many Group products. The Group is in great shape and has a very exciting future ahead of it but the time is now right for me to step down from the responsibilities of running a public company in the knowledge that I leave it in very capable hands."

Bill Brown, Chairman of RUA Life Sciences, commented:   "The transition from an entrepreneur-led private company to a public enterprise is not always a smooth process. David has navigated RUA Medical through this transition admirably and his foresight in succession planning has enabled him to retire from business activities seamlessly. I would like to thank David for his enormous contribution to RUA Life Sciences and look forward to continuing to benefit from his wisdom through the ongoing consultancy."

For further information contact:

RUA Life Sciences

Bill Brown, Chairman  Tel: [phone]  

David Richmond, CEO  Tel: [phone]

Shore Capital (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)   Tel: [phone] 

Tom Griffiths/David Coaten                                           

Cenkos Securities plc (Joint Broker)  Tel: [phone]

Max Gould (Corporate Finance)

Michael Johnson (Sales)

About RUA Life Sciences

The RUA Life Sciences group was created in April 2020 when RUA Life Sciences Plc (formerly known as AorTech International Plc) acquired RUA Medical Devices Limited to create a fully formed medical device business. RUA Life Sciences is the holding company of the Group's four trading businesses, each exploiting the Group's patented polymer technology.

Our vision is to improve the lives of millions of patients by enabling medical devices with Elast-Eon ^TM , the world's leading long-term implantable polyurethane.

Whether it is licensing Elast-Eon ^TM , manufacturing a device or component, or developing next generation medical devices, a RUA Life Sciences business is pursuing our vision.

Elast-Eon™'s biostability is comparable to silicone while exhibiting excellent mechanical, blood contacting and flex-fatigue properties. These polymers can be processed using conventional thermoplastic extrusion and moulding techniques. With over 7 million implants and 14 years of successful clinical use, RUA's polymers are proven in long-term life enabling applications.

The Group's four business units are:

RUA Medical :	End-to-end contract developer and manufacturer of medical devices and implantable fabric specialist.
RUA Biomaterials :	Licensor of Elast-Eon TM  polymers to the medical device industry.
RUA Vascular:	Development of large bore polymer sealed grafts and soft tissue patches.
RUA Structural Heart :	Development of tri leaflet polymeric heart valves.

 

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