I can only echo Dr. von Bohlen's sentiments.
HEIDELBERG, Germany, Sept. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- LION Bioscience AG (WKN 504 350; Neuer Markt: LIO) (Nasdaq: LEON - news) announced today that the whereabouts of CFO Klaus J. Sprockamp remain uncertain. Klaus Sprockamp was attending a meeting in the upper floors of the World Trade Center at the time of the terrorist attacks on New York last week. Since then, he has not been accounted for.
``Our thoughts are with his family and all the victims,'' LION's CEO, Dr. Friedrich von Bohlen, said. ``LION is working hard to determine what has happened to Mr. Sprockamp.''
In the interim, LION's finance department is headed by LION's Corporate Controller, Peter Willinger, who now reports directly to the CEO. All other business and company activities are continuing to proceed as usual.
``We are aware that the uncertainty regarding the whereabouts of our CFO as well as speculations concerning our continued collaboration with Bayer AG in recent days has led to a general insecurity about LION,'' Dr. von Bohlen said. ``Despite our fears and concerns about Klaus Sprockamp, any such insecurity is wholly unfounded.''
Collaboration with Bayer
Last week, Bayer AG formally announced that it will keep its pharmaceuticals business. Bayer has also confirmed that LION will continue to be a key strategic partner of Bayer for the reorganization and optimization of Bayer's entire research and development process. ``Any rumors about a sale of LION shares by Bayer and any speculations about a termination of our collaboration with Bayer are simply false,'' Dr. von Bohlen stated.
``Given the actual development of our business thus far, we foresee further growth of LION's business. We are currently pursuing discussions with other business partners about new collaborations and our goal is to have in place one or two significant collaboration agreements by the end of the current fiscal year,'' Dr. von Bohlen added... |
