SSAG and Non-Executive Board Changes

RNS Number : 3341G

ReNeuron Group plc

28 June 2012

 



28 June 2012

AIM: RENE

ReNeuron Group plc

("ReNeuron" or "the Company")

ReNeuron announces establishment of Scientific and Strategic Advisory Group and non-executive board changes

Guildford, UK, 28 June 2012:  ReNeuron Group plc (AIM: RENE) is pleased to announce the establishment of its Scientific and Strategic Advisory Group.

The purpose of the Advisory Group is to advise and assist the Company on strategic matters relating to its scientific and commercial agenda: in particular, the future direction of stem cell and cell replacement therapy, links to academic, regulatory and industrial organisations and relationships with government bodies, the media and the public, both in the UK and internationally.

The external members of the Advisory Group are as follows:

Professor Colin Blakemore FMedSci, FRCP (Hon), FSB (Hon), FRS.  Professor Blakemore is currently Professor of Neuroscience at the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford. He is a past Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council and a past chair of the International Stem Cell Forum.  He is one of the UK's most influential science commentators, having been actively involved in the public communication of science for more than thirty years.  He is a frequent broadcaster on radio and television, has published a number of books about science for a general readership and writes for the national and international media.

Scott Gottlieb MD.  Dr Gottlieb is a practicing physician in the US and a past Deputy Commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  He was also Director of Medical Policy Development and Senior Adviser for Medical Technology at the FDA.  Subsequently, he was a Senior Adviser to the Administrator of Medicare and Medicaid Services where he supported the agency's policy work particularly in relation to new medical technologies.  He has held editorial positions on the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association, writes a regular feature on healthcare policy for the Wall Street Journal editorial page and is a regular commentator on medical and regulatory matters in the US.   

Professor Jack Price BA PhD. Professor Price is Professor of Developmental Neurobiology and Director, Centre for the Cellular Basis of Behaviour at the Institute for Psychiatry, King's College London.   Following post-doctoral training at MIT, he ran a research group at the National Institute for Medical Research, Mill Hill.  Prior to his current position, he was Director of Molecular Neuroscience at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals.  He has over twenty years' experience in neural stem cell research and has been a senior scientific consultant to ReNeuron for over ten years.

The Scientific and Strategic Advisory Group will be chaired by Professor Trevor Jones CBE, a past Chairman of the Company. Its membership will also include Dr John Sinden, a founder of the Company and its Chief Scientific Officer.  As Chairman of the Advisory Group, Professor Jones will report formally to the Board of the Company on its proceedings on all matters within its duties and responsibilities.  In order to take on this role, and as planned at the time the Company announced its intention to establish the Advisory Group, Professor Jones has stepped down as a director of the Company. 

ReNeuron is pleased to further announce the appointment of Dr Tim Corn as a non-executive director of the Company, with immediate effect.  Dr Corn (age 61) is currently Chief Medical Officer at EUSA Pharma, an international division of Jazz Pharmaceuticals and non-executive director of Circassia Ltd.  He qualified in medicine at King's College Hospital, London after having gained a Master's degree in biochemistry.  Following training in neuropsychiatry, he became consultant and senior lecturer at the Maudsley Hospital, London and is the author of more than 50 scientific publications.  He was elected Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine in 1996.  Dr Corn has held senior clinical and regulatory positions at GlaxoWellcome, MSD Research Laboratories, Athena Neuroscience, Elan and Zeneus Pharma, as well as in the UK regulatory agency.  He has played a key role in twenty regulatory approvals in the US and Europe. 

Professor Jones commented:

"I am delighted that we have managed to assemble an Advisory Group of such eminence and I welcome the new members to the Group.  I very much look forward to chairing the Advisory Group, the combined experience and expertise of which will greatly contribute to ReNeuron's ongoing development as the Company continues its progress into a fully-fledged clinical phase biotherapeutics business."

Bryan Morton, Chairman of ReNeuron, commented:

"We are greatly indebted to Trevor Jones' enormous contribution to the business as a director of ReNeuron since the Company's inception in 1997.  I am delighted that he is to continue his involvement with the Company as Chairman of the Scientific and Strategic Advisory Group, a body that will work closely with the Board of the Company on key issues facing the business as it develops and realises the clinical and commercial potential of its stem cell technologies.

"I am also delighted to welcome Dr Tim Corn to the Board of ReNeuron.  Tim has an outstanding track record in clinical development and has been instrumental in the marketing approval of several important drugs and biologics in both Europe and the US.  His medical, clinical and regulatory experience will be invaluable to ReNeuron as it progresses its own therapies through clinical development."

In addition to his directorship of the Company, Tim Corn holds or has held the following directorships, and is or was a member of the following partnerships, during the past five years:

Current directorships/partnerships	Past directorships/partnerships
Circassia Limited Aesclepius Consulting Limited	None

There are no other matters to disclose pursuant to Schedule Two (g) of the AIM Rules in respect of Dr Corn.

Enquiries:

Michael Hunt, Chief Executive Officer	[phone]
John Sinden, Chief Scientific Officer
ReNeuron
Mark Court, Fiona Henson, Sophie Cowles	[phone]
Buchanan
Stephen Keys, Adrian Hargrave (NOMAD & Broker)	[phone]
Andy Roberts (Sales)
Cenkos Securities

About ReNeuron

ReNeuron is a leading, clinical-stage stem cell business.  Its primary objective is the development of novel stem cell therapies targeting areas of significant unmet or poorly met medical need.  

ReNeuron has used its unique stem cell technologies to develop cell-based therapies for significant disease conditions where the cells can be readily administered "off-the-shelf" to any eligible patient without the need for additional immunosuppressive drug treatments.  ReNeuron's lead candidate is its ReN001 stem cell therapy for the treatment of patients left disabled by the effects of a stroke. This therapy is currently in clinical development.  The Company is also developing stem cell therapies for other conditions such as peripheral arterial disease, a serious and common side-effect of diabetes, and blindness-causing diseases of the retina.

ReNeuron has also developed a range of stem cell lines for non-therapeutic applications - its ReNcell^®products for use in academic and commercial research.  The Company's ReNcell^®CX and ReNcell^®VM neural cell lines are marketed worldwide under license by USA-based Merck Millipore.

ReNeuron's shares are traded on the London AIM market under the symbol RENE.L.  Further information on ReNeuron and its products can be found at www.reneuron.com.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements with respect to the financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance of ReNeuron and certain of the plans and objectives of management of ReNeuron with respect thereto. These statements may generally, but not always, be identified by the use of words such as "should", "expects", "estimates", "believes" or similar expressions. This announcement also contains forward-looking statements attributed to certain third parties relating to their estimates regarding the growth of markets and demand for products. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they reflect ReNeuron's current expectations and assumptions as to future events and circumstances that may not prove accurate.  A number of factors could cause ReNeuron's actual financial condition, results of operations and business achievements/performance to differ materially from the estimates made or implied in such forward-looking statements and, accordingly, reliance should not be placed on such statements.

 

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