MultiCell Adds Noted New Scientific Advisory Board Members
WARWICK, R.I.
MultiCell Technologies, Inc.
Ron Faris or Jerry Newmin, 401-738-7560
MultiCell Technologies, Inc. (MultiCell) (OTCBB:EXTI) announced that four renowned scientists have joined the Company's Scientific Advisory Board: Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D., Andrew Parkinson, Ph.D., Sangeeta Bhatia, MD, Ph.D., and Douglas Hixson, Ph.D.
As announced in February, Ronald Faris, Ph.D., the Company's Chief Science Officer, will chair the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Faris said, "These high caliber scientists are highly qualified individuals who understand our technology and the pharmaceutical industry. The role of the SAB is to guide the Company in our product development and strategic planning to optimize current and future business opportunities."
Dr. Andrew Parkinson is the founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of XenoTech, LLC, the Company's exclusive marketing and distribution partner for two cell lines for use in drug discovery. Dr. Parkinson stated, "I am delighted to participate as a member of MultiCell's SAB. I believe the Company's cell based products have the potential to revolutionize the manner in which preclinical pharmaceutical studies are performed." Dr. Parkinson graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science in medicinal biochemistry from the University of Surrey, England, in 1977. He earned his doctorate in biological chemistry from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada, in 1981. Dr. Parkinson has also been associate director of the Center for Environmental and Occupational Health and professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia earned her MD from Harvard Medical School in 1999, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1997. Dr. Bhatia has been an associate professor in the department of bioengineering and an associate adjunct professor in gastroenterology in the department of medicine at the University of California, San Diego. She is also a member of the UCSD Cancer Center. In 2000, Dr. Bhatia was selected one of America's Notable Women, and in 2003 was named one of the 100 most innovative scientists by the MIT Technology Review. Also in 2003, Dr. Bhatia received the Y.C. Fung Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. She has authored/coauthored two books and over 40 publications including the first textbook in Tissue Engineering. She also serves on a number of scientific advisory boards, including the World Technology Evaluation Council-Advisory Board to U.S. Agencies on the International State of Biosensing, BioMEMS & Biomedical Nanotechnology World, and the National Academies Futures Keck Initiative on Nanobiotechnology. She also has served on several National Institute of Health and National Science Foundation panels and has been awarded patents in the areas of 'liver-on-a-chip' and the interface between biology and Microsystems (BioMEMS). Dr. Bhatia has stated, "MultiCell's cell lines and the Xenogenics liver device represent exciting possibilities for well-defined cell sources for biotechnological and clinical applications." Dr. Bhatia also serves on the Xenogenics Corporation Board of Directors.
Edward T. Maggio, Ph.D., previously nominated to the Company's Board of Directors, has opted to join the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Maggio is Chief Executive Officer and a founder of Cengent Therapeutics Inc., (renamed from Structural Bioinformatics, Inc. upon acquisition of GeneFormatics, Inc.) He has been a founder and board member of seven public and private life sciences companies in Southern California. Dr. Maggio commented, "I believe MultiCell's toxicological and drug screening technologies show great promise to increase the efficiency of drug discovery and save many millions of dollars by reducing the ultimate failure rate in clinical trials, benefiting both drug companies and consumers alike." Dr. Maggio is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of ImmunoPharmaceutics, Inc. (IPI), He received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and was a NIH postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry. He is a member of the Board of Fellows of Polytechnic University, New York; serves on the University of California, San Diego Dean's Board of Advisors for Biological Sciences; and on the Board of Advocates at Baylor University's School of Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Maggio has edited and/or coauthored a number of books and scientific articles in the biotechnology area and is an author of over two-dozen issued and pending U.S. and foreign patents.
Dr. Douglas Hixson is vice president and co-founder of Prothera Biologics, a professor at Brown University and the Director of the COBRE Center for Cancer Research at Rhode Island Hospital. Dr. Hixson is known for his pioneering studies on liver progenitor cells. He has been a member and chair of numerous study sections for the National Institute of Health. Dr. Hixson is also a research professor of medicine and pathology at Brown University in Providence, RI. He earned a bachelor of science in mathematics in 1969, as well as a Masters in biochemistry in 1971, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 1975 he earned his doctorate in biomedical sciences from the University of Texas in Houston. From 1998 to the present, he has been the director of the Molecular Carcinogenesis Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology, at Rhode Island Hospital.
MultiCell's first meeting of its newly enlarged Scientific Advisory Board will coincide with the Company's recently-announced Shareholders' meeting June 16, 2004 in San Diego, CA.
MultiCell Technologies Inc. provides patented, immortalized non-tumorigenic hepatic (liver) cell lines to pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery and toxicity tests. Hepatocytes metabolize or detoxify drugs or substances ingested into the body. Drug failures or FDA rejections due to hepatotoxicity and/or drug-drug interactions now cost the pharmaceutical industry around $2 billion each year. According to Tufts University's Center for Study of Drug Development, it costs $897 million to develop and test a new medicine. MultiCell is also developing cell-based toxicological and drug screening tests plus biologics for use in diagnostic and therapeutic applications for liver dysfunction and disease. MultiCell's cellular product expertise also enables production of liver-derived therapeutic proteins. Such proteins could ultimately be used to treat a number of liver related diseases such as hemophilia, primary immune deficiencies, and emphysema.
MultiCell's majority-owned subsidiary, Xenogenics Corp., is developing the patented Sybiol(R) synthetic bio-liver device, which is intended to operate optimally with MultiCell's immortalized hepatocytes. Hundreds of millions of people now suffer from liver disease worldwide; treatment options, especially donor organs, remain severely limited. Treatment of liver disease by such a device has been estimated to be a $2 billion market.
MultiCell's corporate and research headquarters are at 55 Access Road, Suite 700, Warwick RI, 02886. 401-738-7560. For more information visit www.exten.com and www.multicelltechnologies.com.
Additional Information:
The EXTI.OB stock ticker symbol remains the same until further notice. Assignment of a new symbol is expected as a result of the recent corporate consolidation and name change.
The matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These risks are detailed from time to time in the company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including the company's Annual Report, Quarterly Reports and other periodic filings. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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