Calgary, Alberta
January 12, 2009
The Board of Directors of
SemBioSys Genetics Inc.
(TSX:SBS), a biotechnology company developing protein
pharmaceuticals in crop plants, today announced that current
President and CEO Andrew Baum has been appointed to the new
position of President and CEO of
Botaneco Specialty Ingredients
Inc., a SemBioSys subsidiary. James Szarko, currently the
corporation's Chief Financial Officer, has been named the new
President and Chief Executive Officer of SemBioSys, effective
immediately. Mr. Szarko, in collaboration with the Company's
internal financial team, will continue as finance lead at
SemBioSys. Dr. Maurice Moloney, Company Founder and Chief
Scientific Officer, Dr. Bruce Given, acting Chief Medical
Officer, and Dean Brown, VP of Business Development, will all
continue in their current roles with the Corporation.
"With the significant progress that we have made at SemBioSys
and the aggressive growth of our Botaneco subsidiary, this
change allows us to ensure that we have key leadership in these
critical roles as we work to unlock the potential of both
platforms in our business," said Richard Smith, Chairman of
SemBioSys. "James' knowledge of our business makes him the
natural successor from the Board's perspective. His outstanding
leadership skills, coupled with his performance over the past
four years as Chief Financial Officer of SemBioSys and sound
fiscal judgment, make him the ideal candidate to lead the strong
executive and management team which the Company now has in
place. Also on behalf of the Board of Directors, I would like to
thank Andrew for his service and commitment to SemBioSys. His
leadership was essential in helping us bring our plant-produced
insulin forward into clinical trials and to initiate the
negotiations now underway for our insulin and Apo AI
candidates."
James Szarko joined SemBioSys in September 2004 as Chief
Financial Officer. He has 23 years of business and leadership
experience in various roles as a Chartered Accountant,
management consultant and an executive. Prior to joining
SemBioSys, Mr. Szarko provided consulting and financial
management services to early stage growth companies primarily in
the technology area. He also held a senior position with a large
public company. Mr. Szarko began his career at
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he advanced to the position of
senior manager which included a three year international
assignment. Mr. Szarko is currently a member of the Advancement
Committee to the Board of Governors of the University of
Lethbridge and has served on various boards and committees in
both the profit and non-profit sectors.
"We believe with insulin and Apo AI that we have only begun to
exploit the proprietary protein production platform that we have
developed at SemBioSys. We recognize that it represents a major
breakthrough in the
production of high volume pharmaceutical products at a low cost
and enables the development of molecules that would be
uneconomical in other systems," said James Szarko, CA, newly
appointed president and chief executive officer of SemBioSys.
"We have also built a phenomenally talented team at all levels
of the organization, which will enable us to succeed in these
difficult markets and economic times. We shall focus our efforts
on fiscal prudence and achievement of near-term development and
clinical milestones within our insulin and Apo AI programs. This
will enable us to partner these programs and initiate new
programs to build the Company's pipeline."
"With the initiation of our clinical trial for plant-produced
insulin and the progress we made at SemBioSys with MannKind,
Inc. on the business development front, now is the appropriate
time for me to transition to Botanceo full-time. I am excited by
the opportunity to apply my entrepreneurial skills to build a
strong team and grow the oilbody business at Botaneco which I
believe has great potential upside to offer SemBioSys," said
Andrew Baum, president and chief executive officer of Botaneco.
Calgary, Alberta-based SemBioSys is a biotechnology company
developing protein-based pharmaceuticals using its proprietary
protein production technology. This technology enables the
production of therapeutic proteins in
plant seeds by genetically enhancing the safflower plant.
SemBioSys' lead pharmaceutical candidates are recombinant human
insulin, which is intended to serve the rapidly expanding global
diabetes market, and Apo AIMilano. Apo AIMilano is a variant of
Apo AI, the major protein associated with high density
lipoprotein (HDL), or "good cholesterol", whose function is to
remove excess cholesterol from arteries. In addition to its
pharmaceutical products, SemBioSys' subsidiary, Botaneco
Specialty Ingredients Inc., is selling oleosome-based all
natural products in the global personal care ingredient market.
More information is available and can be accessed at
www.sembiosys.com.
Botaneco is the global developer and marketer of innovative
oleosome-based ingredients to the personal care and OTC topical
markets. As a technologically driven provider of high
performance, proprietary oleosome-based ingredients, Botaneco is
committed to developing innovative ingredients that offer
multifunctional, tangible and documented benefits to both
formulators and consumers. Botaneco's head office and
manufacturing facility is located in Calgary, Canada and its
satellite office in Bensalem, PA. More information is available
and can be accessed at
www.botaneco.ca. |
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