Arbios Systems Announces Addition of Senior Personnel
November 15 2006 - 12:26PM
PR Newswire (US)
Principal Consultants Bring Expertise in Blood Purification and
Clinical Development WALTHAM, Mass., Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/
-- Arbios Systems, Inc. (OTC:ABOS), a company developing
proprietary medical devices and cell-based therapies for the
millions of patients each year who experience or are at risk for
life-threatening episodes of liver failure, today announced the
addition of two new senior personnel. Dr. Ulrich Baurmeister,
Ph.D., has joined Arbios as Chief Technology Officer with
responsibility for further development of proprietary blood
separation technology for the Company, and Dr. Jan Stange, M.D.,
has joined as Senior Clinical Advisor, with responsibility for
medical direction of the Company's clinical trials. Dr. Jacek
Rozga, M.D., Ph.D., will continue to serve as the Company's Chief
Scientific Officer on a part- time basis beginning November 30,
2006. All three individuals will work under retainer consulting
agreements with the Company. Dr. Ulrich Baurmeister brings
exceptional experience to Arbios in the field of semi-permeable
polymer membrane development, of relevance to Arbios' lead product
programs, the SEPET(TM) Liver Assist Device and the HepatAssist(TM)
Cell-Based Liver Support System. From 1982 until 2000, Dr.
Baurmeister served in various senior research and development,
marketing and business development roles at Membrana GmbH, a
leading supplier of semi- permeable membranes for dialysis and
water purification, and its parent companies, Akzo Nobel and
Acordis AG. He was most recently Managing Director, Business
Development, overseeing Membrana's extension into new areas of
business and technology. From 2000 to 2004, he continued at
Membrana while also serving as Chief Executive Officer of MAT
Adsorption Technologies GmbH & Co. KG, a Membrana spin-off
venture that developed selective adsorption membrane technology and
was sold to B.Braun Medizintechnik, GmbH, a leader in clinical
dialysis technology and systems. Dr. Baurmeister serves Arbios on a
half-time basis, alongside his role as Advisor and Senior Visiting
Scientist at the University Hospital Charite in Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Baurmeister's academic background includes biomedical and
chemical engineering degrees from the Universities of Toronto and
Berlin and postdoctoral studies in artificial organs at the
University of Groningen and Free University of Berlin. He serves on
the boards of the Society of Artificial Organs, the International
Society of Blood Purification, and the International Society for
Apheresis. Dr. Baurmeister also participates in various working
groups in the fields of biocompatibility of materials and organ
failure. At Arbois, Dr. Baurmeister will initially focus on
optimization of manufacturing and quality assurance for the
Company's lead product programs, as well as on the development of
novel membranes for future products for indications in critical
care medicine, including multi-organ failure. Dr. Jan Stange
similarly brings deep experience to Arbios in the field of clinical
development of products for the treatment of liver failure,
including managing pivotal phase, multi-center clinical trials for
various liver failure indications in both the U.S. and Europe. From
2000 to 2005, he was a founder and the Medical Director of Teraklin
GmbH, where he directed clinical trials of that company's MARS
Liver Assist system, currently owned by Gambro AS and marketed in
Europe and Asia. Since 1992, Dr. Stange has held academic, clinical
and research positions at the University of Rostock, Germany and
the University of California, San Diego and has founded other
medical products companies in addition to Teraklin. He is currently
Professor of Bioartificial Therapies at the University of Rostock.
He serves on the board of directors of Forum Liver Dialysis, which
organizes an annual scientific conference in Europe. Dr. Stange
will serve Arbios on a part-time consulting basis, initially
focusing on U.S. and European clinical development of SEPET(TM)
Liver Assist Device. His involvement over the past quarter has
helped to enhance the pace of patient enrollment into the SEPET(TM)
clinical feasibility trial, with five additional patients enrolled
and treated over the past two months -- bringing total current
enrollment to ten patients. Dr. Jacek Rozga, M.D., Ph.D., a founder
of Arbios, has served as the Company's Chief Scientific Officer
since 2005, having previously served as President and Chief
Executive Officer. Dr. Rozga will continue as Chief Scientific
Officer, focusing on invention and development of new technologies
and patenting, as well as scientific support of the ongoing
SEPET(TM) clinical and manufacturing development program. Following
his resignation as a full- time employee of Arbios, effective
November 30, 2006, Dr. Rozga will work for Arbios on a part-time
consulting basis to complement his newly accepted position as Chief
Executive Officer of a privately held, Los Angeles-area cancer
therapeutics company. Walter C. Ogier, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Arbios, commented, "We are very pleased to
welcome Drs. Baurmeister and Stange to the Arbios team. Each is a
recognized leader in the liver dialysis field and both have
expressed their enthusiasm about working with the Company to
realize the therapeutic potential of our SEPET(TM) and
HepatAssist(TM) products. Their experience and skills complement
those of the Arbios management team, and they further bring to the
Company an important presence in Europe, where we are focused on
gaining commercial sales of SEPET(TM) under CE Mark approval.
Together with Dr. Rozga, and others at Arbios, we remain committed
to bringing our important technology and potential therapies to
patients with, or at risk for, liver failure." About Arbios Systems
Arbios Systems, Inc. is developing proprietary medical devices and
cell- based therapies to enhance the survival of millions of
patients each year who experience, or are at risk for,
life-threatening episodes of liver failure. The Arbios product
candidate portfolio includes the SEPET(TM) Liver Assist Device, a
novel blood purification therapy that provides enhanced "liver
dialysis," and the HepatAssist(TM) Cell-Based Liver Support System,
a bioartificial liver that combines blood detoxification with liver
cell therapy to replace whole liver function in patients with the
most severe forms of liver failure. At the Rodman & Renshaw 8th
Annual Healthcare Conference in New York on November 8, 2006, Mr.
Ogier summarized recent, favorable progress of the Company's U.S.
IDE feasibility clinical trial of the SEPET(TM) Liver Assist
Device, which has now enrolled ten patients at three major U.S.
liver transplant hospitals. He also presented a summary of
operating objectives for the Company, including paths to regulatory
approvals and commercialization of SEPET(TM). A webcast of Mr.
Ogier's presentation, as well as other information on the Company,
is available at http://www.arbios.com/. This press release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from
the events or results described in the forward-looking statements,
including risks or uncertainties related to the goals and results
of clinical trials, compliance with regulatory requirements,
labeling of the Company's products, the need for subsequent
substantial additional financing to complete clinical development
of its products, future markets and demand for the Company's
products, Arbios' ability to successfully market its products and
technologies, and the Company's ability to maintain relationships
with key employees, consultants and advisors. These statements
represent the judgment of Arbios' management as of this date and
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could materially affect
the Company. Arbios cautions investors that there can be no
assurance that actual results or business conditions will not
differ materially from those projected or suggested in such
forward-looking statements. Please refer to our Annual Report on
Form 10- KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2005 for a
description of risks that may affect our results or business
conditions. The Company does not undertake any obligation to
publicly release the result of any revisions to such
forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events, except as required by law. SEPET(TM) and
HepatAssist(TM) are trademarks of Arbios Systems, Inc. DATASOURCE:
Arbios Systems, Inc. CONTACT: Walter C. Ogier, Arbios,
+1-781-839-7293; or Rx Communications, Investors: Paula Schwartz,
+1-917-322-2216; or Media: Pat Garrison, +1-917- 322-2567, ; or
Doug MacDougall, MacDougall Biomedical Communications,
+1-508-647-0209 Web site: http://www.arbios.com/
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