Canadian Company Press Release
SYB 1999-07-16 (provided courtesy of Canadian Corporate News.)
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SYNSORB Biotech Inc. Appoints New Director
CALGARY, ALBERTA--SYNSORB Biotech Inc. ("SYNSORB") (TSE: SYB;
Nasdaq: SYBB) today announced the appointment of Stanley T.
Crooke, M.D., Ph.D., to the Company's Board of Directors. Dr.
Crooke is the founder, Chairman and CEO of Isis Pharmaceuticals,
of Carlsbad, California.
During his distinguished career, Dr. Crooke has supervised the
development of 18 drugs currently on the market plus others in
development. Dr. Crooke and his colleagues founded Isis in 1989
and in 1998, succeeded in securing FDA approval for Vitravene, the
world's first antisense drug. He has also successfully raised
approximately $250 million for Isis.
As well as discharging his duties as Chairman and CEO of Isis, Dr.
Crooke is currently a member of the Board of Directors of SIBIA,
La Jolla, California; Valentis, San Francisco, California; EPIX
Medical Inc., Cambridge Massachusetts; and Idun Pharmaceuticals,
Inc., La Jolla, California. He is a member of the Current Drugs
Advisory Board, the Editorial Advisory Board of Journal of Drug
Targeting and Antisense Research and Development, the Editorial
Board of Gene Therapy and Molecular Biology. He is also
Editor-in-Chief of Current Opinion on Anticancer Drugs and Section
Editor for Biologicals and Immunologicals for Expert Opinion on
Investigational Drugs. He has been appointed by the American
Association for Cancer Research to serve as a member of the
California State Legislative Committee. He has published nearly
400 scientific paper and written or edited 17 books.
Prior to founding Isis, Dr. Crooke was President of Research and
Development for SmithKline Beecham Corporation (SKB) where he
directed the activities of nearly 3000 scientists, physicians and
support staff for SmithKline & French Laboratories, the
pharmaceutical arm of SKB. He also coordinated the research and
development activities of SKB including its instruments,
diagnostics, animal health and clinical laboratory business.
Prior to joining SKB, Dr. Crooke helped establish the anticancer
drug discovery and development program at Bristol Myers, which
succeeded in bringing to market a significant number of drugs. At
Bristol, he established numerous licensing and collaborating
agreements and developed the Bristol-Bayer Laboratory.
"We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Dr. Crooke's
stature join our Board," said Dr. David Cox, SYNSORB's President &
CEO in announcing the appointment. "His significant contributions
to the global biotechnology industry add a wealth of knowledge and
experience that can assist in steering SYNSORB's ongoing growth.
This appointment is a major development in the continued
strengthening of our Board."
SYNSORB is dedicated to accelerated drug development from the
acquisition of promising compounds emerging from basic research
through clinical development, and ultimately to providing channels
to market for new discoveries. Headquartered in Calgary, SYNSORB
currently has two products in late stage clinical development,
SYNSORB Pk(R) for the prevention of HUS and the treatment of
verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) infections (including O157:H7), and
SYNSORB Cd(R) designed to treat recurrent antibiotic-associated
diarrhea (CDAD). SYNSORB has additional compounds in pre-clinical
development, including REOSYN, a potential cancer treatment being
developed within its subsidiary company, Oncolytics Biotech Inc.,
and novel antibiotics, with inflammation and anti-virals targeted
in the Company's research and development program.
Shares of SYNSORB Biotech Inc. trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange
in Canada (symbol "SYB") and on NASDAQ in the United States
(ticker "SYBB").
This release contains certain forward-looking statements which
involve known and unknown risks, delays, uncertainties and other
factors not under the Company's control which may cause actual
results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from the results, performance or other
expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These
factors include results of current or pending clinical trials,
actions by the FDA/HPB and those factors detailed in the Company's
registration statement on Form 20 F filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
The Equicom Group
Jason Hogan
Investor Relations
(416) 815-0700 ex 222
(416) 815-0080 (FAX)
jhogan@equicomgroup.com
synsorb.com
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