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Biotech / Medical : CYPB - Cypress BioScience -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: muddphudd who wrote (163)	5/12/1998 3:53:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Respond to of 586

The way to go with these questions is for you to email me your email address (jaylowe@lpt.com) and I will send you a copy of the Gruss report which has the financials you are looking for with CV's on the principals (included below). Then you call CYPB and ask to speak to (probably) Debby Jo Blank, MD, and explain to her that you are performing a technology review for online investors. IE, take the "analyst" position, not the investor one. You could also ask Dr Blank if you can interview Dr Gendreau (Chief Medical Officer) ... I can't guess which one will be most willing/useful to engage in a technical discussion. In short, push CYPB hard to let you evaluate Prosorba. Lots of interested lurkers would appreciate it! Jay D. Kranzler M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Kranzler, has served as Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Company since December 1995. In the two years since coming to Cypress, Dr. Kranzler has been instrumental in raising over $26 million of capital, restructuring the Company's operations to reduce overhead, reacquiring the marketing rights to the Company's PROSORBA Column and pursuing acquisitions to diversify Cypress's technology base. Prior to joining Cypress, Dr. Kranzler served as President and CEO of Cytel Corporation (CYTL - $2), a biotechnology company that discovers, designs and develops immunotherapeutics. During his tenure at Cytel, he raised over $73 million through public offerings and successfully diversified the Company's technology base. While with Cytel, Dr. Kranzler played an important role in securing five strategic alliances with large pharmaceutical firms such as Upjohn (UPJ - $41«), Sandoz which was recently merged into Novartis Pharmaceuticals (ADR - NVTSY -$ 89«) and Sumitomo. Dr. Kranzler was a founder of the biotechnology company Sequel Therapeutics and cofounder of Glytec Corporation, both acquired by Cytel. Dr Kranzler was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company prior to joining Cytel. In that capacity, he worked closely with many leading pharmaceutical firms designing product and research strategies and conducting technology assessments. Dr. Kranzler earned his M.D. and his Ph.D. in Pharmacology at Yale University. We believe Dr. Kranzler has a significant vested interest in the success of Cypress given that he currently holds 4 million stock options as part of his long-term compensation. " Debby Jo Blank, M.D. In December 1995, Dr. Blank was appointed President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Cypress Bioscience. Dr. Blank, in conjunction with Dr. Kranzler, has been instrumental in the turn-around of Cypress Bioscience including raising capital and reestablishing a direct sales force for the PROSORBA column. From 1994 until joining Cypress, Dr. Blank served as Senior Vice President, Marketing of ATL Ultrasound (ATLI - $46) where she was central to new product launches and revitalizing growth in the competitive worldwide ultrasound market. Prior to ATL, Dr. Blank held the position of Vice President, Marketing for Syntex Laboratories from 1993-1994 where she managed all in-line product marketing activities for $1 billion in U.S. business activity and designed the launch plans for four new products. From 1989 to 1993, Dr. Blank was employed by The DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company serving in the capacity of Vice President, Worldwide Marketing (1992- 1993) and Vice President, New Product Planning & Business Development (1991-1992). While in these capacities, she coordinated all in-line product marketing activities including product launches, budgeting and clinical studies. Dr. Blank was a Senior Healthcare Consultant for Arthur D. Little from 1985 to 1989 where she worked closely with large hospitals and pharmaceutical firms in the areas of acquisition analysis, research and development planning and pharmacoeconomics. Dr. Blank earned her M.D. at Tufts University School of Medicine in 1984. Like Dr. Kranzler, Dr. Blank has a notable vested interest in Cypress' success. She has approximately 1.2 million options for common stock in long-term compensation. " R. Michael Gendreau, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Gendreau has held various positions with Cypress since joining the Company in 1994 and in December 1996 was appointed Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer. In this capacity, Dr. Gendreau has been critical in redirecting the Company's research and development efforts as well as leading technology assessment efforts resulting in the acquisition of PRP. From 1991 to 1994, Dr. Gendreau held the position of Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer for MicroProbe Corporation and was responsible for diagnostic clinical trials and FDA regulatory activities. Additionally, he was responsible for growing the R&D structure from 8 scientists to over 25. From 1988 to 1991, Dr. Gendreau served as the Vice President, Research and Development of Source Scientific, acquired by Boston Biomedica (BBII - $7 5/8) in 1997. During his tenure at Source, he was instrumental in modernizing the company's product lines and in the development of a number of medical devices. In 1991, Source Scientific merged with MicroProbe. Dr. Gendreau played a critical role on the merger team and in managing the combination of R&D activities of both firms. Prior to joining Source Scientific, Dr. Gendreau held various positions at Battelle Memorial Institute and the National Center for Biomedical Infrared Spectroscopy. Dr. Gendreau received his degrees from the Ohio State University in 1981.

To: muddphudd who wrote (163)	5/12/1998 4:01:00 PM
From: Jay Lowe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 586

Another point ... CYPB is reported as follows (Gruss quote): " ... Cypress has instituted an ongoing R&D program to elucidate the mechanism of action of the device (1) . We believe the decision by management to institute this important work will eventually clarify the mechanism of action, thereby facilitating the product's acceptance. Leading academic researchers, directed by Dr. Gerald Nepom at the Virginia Mason Research Institute and by Eric Sasso of the University of Washington, are performing this work." (1) refers to the "Cypress Bioscience, Inc. - Scientific Sub-Protocol Program" I suggest you ask for a copy of the Scientific Protocol. I suggest you also ask to interview Nepom and Sasso. I am not qualified to parse whatever input I might get from these folks, but it looks like maybe you are ... and this would be a valuable contribution! BTW, what's your background, biochemist, MD, ... ??? I think a good technical report would be an EXCELLENT resource ... and if CYPB happened to differ with your findings that would nicely serve to focus some attention on the issues. So ... go for it! (and if CYPB won't play, I'll definitely be calling to ask why not!)