IIN Inion Oy

RNS Number:8718M
Inion Oy
29 November 2006



     Inion Appoints Chris Lee as Chief Commercial Officer and CEO-Designate



Brings significant commercial experience and leadership from medical device and
                              orthopaedics sector



Tampere, Finland and Takeley, UK 29 November 2006. Inion (LSE: IIN.L), a company
focused on the development of novel biodegradable medical implants, is pleased
to announce that Mr Chris Lee has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer and
will be put forward for election as an executive member of the Board of
Directors at the Company's AGM. He will join the Company at the start of January
2007 from Ethicon Products, a major subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, where he is
currently President, Europe Middle East & Africa.



At the Company's AGM in Q2 2007, it is intended that Mr Lee will be proposed as
Inion's Chief Executive Officer and formally appointed as a Director of the
Board of Directors. At the same time, Dr Auvo Kaikkonen, who is currently CEO,
will take the role of Chief Scientific Officer with specific responsibilities
for developing and driving new Inion products and technology to market,
including the Inion OptimaPLUS(TM) bioactive and biodegradable platform.



Mr Lee (age 44) has significant commercial experience in the medical devices
sector. For the majority of his more than 21 years business experience in the
sector, he has worked at Johnson & Johnson where, during the past six years, he
has had P&L responsibility for three businesses with multi-million dollar sales.
Currently Mr Lee is President, Europe, Middle East & Africa for Ethicon
Products, a market-leading wound closure business and also Chairman of the
Medical Devices and Diagnostics Group in the UK. Prior to this, Mr Lee was
Worldwide Vice President of DePuy Trauma, Extremities and Biologics. Before
that, he was Managing Director of Ethicon Endo-Surgery UK, where he was a
statutory Director and head of the legal entity from 2001-2003. Mr Lee is a "
Chartered Marketeer" and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He
received an MBA from Cranfield University in 1997.



Dr Goran Ando, Inion's Chairman, said: "We are extremely pleased to have
attracted someone of Chris's quality and commercial experience to Inion. The
Company has created a technology for the development of biodegradable medical
implants that has great potential. We are currently undertaking a thorough
strategic review of the business in order to focus and enhance our commercial
operations aimed at maximising this potential and we are confident that Chris's
contribution to this will be very important in ensuring that the business
delivers the benefits to shareholders and patients that we expect."



Chris Lee commented: "I am very excited to be joining Inion; it is a young
company with an innovative technology and clear vision for the future. However,
such companies face certain challenges in competing against incumbent
technologies and established players, which will require us to take an
innovative approach to establish the technology into current practices. Inion is
at the forefront of next-generation biodegradable and bioactive technologies in
medical implants, and I am looking forward to developing the business and
establishing the technology as the standard of care."



Auvo Kaikkonen, CEO of Inion, said: "Chris's credentials in the sector are
exceptional, and I am very much looking forward to working with him. His input
and drive will be crucial for the successful implementation and achievement of
Inion's commercial goals."

                                     -Ends-



For further information, please contact:

Inion Oy
Dr Goran Ando, Chairman                                 Tel: +358 3 230 6600
Dr Auvo Kaikkonen, CEO                                  Tel: +44 (0)1279 874 222
Julien Cotta, CFO

Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                  Tel: +44 (0)207 638 9571
Mark Swallow / David Dible / Helena Galilee





About Inion (www.inion.com)

Inion Oy is a Finnish company that specializes in the development of
biodegradable medical implants.



The Inion core expertise and technology lies in the design and manufacture of
innovative biodegradable plates, screws, pins and membranes that are used to
enhance the healing of skeletal injuries (bone and soft tissue), such as those
caused by trauma or by reconstructive surgery. Inion implants are made from its
proprietary Inion Optima(TM) family of biomaterials, with properties tailored
for specific surgical applications, in terms of strength, flexibility and rate
of degradation.



Inion has developed and launched products in five strategic business areas -
cranio-maxillofacial surgery, orthopaedic trauma, sports medicine, dental
surgery and most recently in the spinal implant area - in nearly 50 countries
worldwide.



Inion was incorporated in early 2000 by an international team of experts in
biodegradable materials and their clinical applications, and listed on the
Official List of the UK Listing Authority in December 2004. The Company's has
operations in the UK, R&D and production facilities in Tampere, Finland, and a
US office in Oklahoma City, OK.





This announcement includes "forward-looking statements" which include all
statements other than statements of historical facts, including, without
limitation, those regarding the Group's financial position, business strategy,
plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development
plans and objectives relating to the Group's products), and any statements
preceded by, followed by or that include forward-looking terminology such as the
words "targets", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "aims", "intends", "will",
"can", "may", "anticipates", "would", "should", "could" or similar expressions
or the negative thereof. Such forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the Group's
control that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the
Group to be materially different from future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such
forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the
Group's present and future business strategies and the environment in which the
Group will operate in the future. Among the important factors that could cause
the Group's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially
from those in forward-looking statements include those relating to Inion's
funding requirements, regulatory approvals, reliance on third parties,
intellectual property, key personnel and other factors. These forward-looking
statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. The Group expressly
disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions
to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any
change in the Group's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. As a result
of these factors, prospective investors are cautioned not to rely on any
forward-looking statement.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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