Agennix appoints Dr. Frank Young Chairman of its Board of Directors
HOUSTON, June 30, 2003 - Agennix, Inc., a leader in the development of recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF) for the treatment cancer, asthma and wound healing, today announced the appointment of Frank Young, MD, PhD, to the position of Chairman of its Board of Directors. This position was previously held by Gordon Cain, who passed away in 2002.
Dr. Young has served in several high-profile health-related leadership positions within and outside of government, including Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Assistant U.S. Surgeon General, Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Young became the U.S. Senate confirmed representative to the Executive Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO), and subsequently became a Commissioner on the WHO's Committee on Health and Environment. In addition, Dr. Young served in various capacities at the University of Rochester, New York, including Chairman of the Department of Microbiology, Dean of the School of Medicine and Dentistry and Vice President for Health Affairs.
"We are honored to have Dr. Young join our Board as Chairman," said Rick Barsky, Chief Executive Officer of Agennix. "We have worked closely with him in the last few months - prior to asking him to join our Board - and are confident that he will add significant value as we work together to bring rhLF through human clinical trials."
Dr. Young stated, "It is a privilege to join the Company's outstanding management team and support the Company in its quest for immunotherapies for serious and life threatening diseases. I believe we have a good chance of realizing the vision of the Company's founder, Gordon Cain."
Dr. Young currently serves on the Boards of a number of small biotech companies, is an Adjunct Partner at Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, and is Chairman and CEO of The Cosmos Alliance. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He received his M.D. degree from SUNY Upstate Medical University and received a Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He has contributed to more than 200 scientific articles in the field of biotechnology and has been awarded the Inspector General's Award for Outstanding Integrity and PHS Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal.
About Agennix:
Agennix, a privately owned Houston-based biopharmaceutical company, is the world leader in the development of recombinant human lactoferrin (rhLF), a natural immunomodulatory, anti-infective and anti-inflammatory protein. RhLF has been administered to over 300 people without a single drug-related serious adverse event. Oral rhLF has demonstrated preclinical efficacy in treating cancer and asthma, and topical rhLF has been shown to accelerate wound healing. Agennix is the first and only company to manufacture substantial quantities of human lactoferrin and holds global patents on its technology, with over 71 issued patents, and more than 50 pending patents. Agennix has five phase 2 human clinical trials currently underway in the treatment of cancer, asthma, and diabetic foot ulcers.
Two abstracts presented in the 2003 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) described the anti-cancer activity of rhLF including interim results from two clinical trials in patients with refractory cancer, where about half the patients showed stable disease or tumor shrinkage. A poster presented at the 2003 meeting of the Wound Healing Society described the ability of topical rhLF to accelerate wound healing and closure in preclinical experiments relative to both a placebo and the approved drug, and described an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical trial. The press releases describing the above are available at http://www.agennix.com/contentpages/newsandpressreleases.htm. More information about Agennix is available on the Company's web site at http://www.agennix.com.