Asterand Announcements

RNS Number : 5138C Asterand PLC 02 September 2008  
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For Immediate Release
2 September 2008

    
    
ASTERAND PLC

Board Appointment
Asterand plc (LSE: ATD), a leading provider of human tissue and services to pharmaceutical companies engaged in drug discovery research, announces the appointment of Jonathan J. Fleming as a Non-Executive Director. Mr. Fleming is currently the Managing Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners (Boston, MA). In addition, the Company discloses that David A. Jones, Jr., has stepped down from the Board. All changes are with immediate effect. 

Since 1996 Mr. Fleming has been a General Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners and currently serves as the Managing General Partner. Oxford Bioscience Partners is an international venture capital firm with more than $ 900 million under management that specializes in life science technology based investments. Oxford Bioscience Partners is a major shareholder of Asterand plc and is the founding Venture firm of its predecessor company, Asterand Inc. Mr. Fleming holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a MPA from Princeton University. Mr. Fleming currently serves as Director of several private companies and is the Chairman of the Board of Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: MEMY). Mr. Fleming is presently a Director of Leerink Swann Investment Trust (Boston, MA), an investment bank specializing in life sciences.

Jack Davis, Chairman of Asterand plc commented:

"I'm pleased to welcome Jonathan to the Board. He is an accomplished business leader with a proven track record of using his expertise to maximise the value of high growth companies. As we converge on our strategic objectives of sustained profitability and future growth, I am confident that his experience in the life science and healthcare sectors will be invaluable.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank David Jones for his service to the Company. He is Chairman and Managing Director of Chrysalis Ventures, a major shareholder of Asterand, and has served as a Board member of Asterand, Inc. and then subsequently Asterand plc since 2003. David has been an outstanding Director and we are grateful for the assistance he has provided in bringing Asterand to this key stage in its development. We look forward to his and Chrysalis Ventures' continued support in the future."
For further information contact:
 
Asterand plc
Martyn Coombs, Chief Executive Officer         Tel No: +44 (0) 1763 211600
Jack Davis, Chairman                                       Tel No: + 1 (313) 263-0960            

Buchanan Communications
Lisa Baderoon / Rebecca Skye Dietrich          Tel No: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

Daniel Stewart & Company plc
Simon Leathers/Tom Jenkins                                Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550 
Director disclosures:

Mr. Fleming currently holds the following company directorships:
    BioProcessors Corp (Woburn, MA)
    Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp (Montvale, NJ)
    RailRunner NA Corp (Lexington, MA)
    Leerink Swann Investment Trust (Boston, MA)
There is no further information required to be disclosed under Rule 9.6.13R of the Listing Rules of the Financial Services Authority.
Notes to Editors
 
Asterand is a leading supplier of high quality human tissue and tissue-based services. Our comprehensive approach to human tissue and research services offers pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic companies the unique opportunity to have one company meet all of their human biomaterial needs along the continuum of drug discovery and development. Our mission is to accelerate target discovery and compound validation and enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to take safer and more effective drugs into the clinic.

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