PVG.L Regulatory News (PVG)

20 Mar 2008 07:00

Ark Therapeutics Group PLC20 March 2008 Ark Therapeutics Group plc Board Appointment London, UK, 20 March 2008 - Ark Therapeutics Group plc ("Ark" or the "Company")today announces the appointment of Andrew Christie as a Non-Executive Director,with effect from the Annual General Meeting on 24 April 2008. Mr Christie'sappointment will be put to shareholders for approval at the AGM and, onceappointed, he will also be a member of the Remuneration Committee. Mr Christie brings the benefit of 25 years of investment banking andinternational corporate finance experience to Ark. He was, until recently, aManaging Director in the UK Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse. In hisprior role at Credit Suisse First Boston, he was Head of Investment Banking,Asia Pacific, in Hong Kong and, before that, held the same position with BZWLimited. There are no other disclosures relating to Mr Christie's appointment to be madeunder Listing Rule 9.6.13 (1) to (6). Dennis Turner, Chairman of Ark, commented: "I am delighted that Andrew hasaccepted our invitation to join the Board. He is a very experienced investmentbanker with wide knowledge of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Hebrings very useful additional skills that I believe will strengthen the Board atan important point in Ark's evolution, as the Company moves towardscommercialisation of its core development technologies and products." For further information: Ark Therapeutics Group plc Tel: + 44 (0)20 7388 7722Dr Nigel Parker, CEOMartyn Williams, CFO Financial Dynamics Tel: + 44 (0)20 7831 3113David YatesSusan Quigley Notes to Editors Ark Therapeutics Group plc Ark Therapeutics Group plc is a specialist healthcare group (the "Group")addressing high value areas of unmet medical need within vascular disease, woundcare and cancer. These are large and growing markets, where opportunities existfor effective new products to generate significant revenues. With four marketeddevices, Kerraboot(R), Kerraped(R), Flaminal(R) and Neuropad(R), and threefurther lead pharmaceutical products in late stage clinical development: Cerepro(R), VitorTM, and Trinam(R), the Group is transitioning from an R&D company to acommercial, revenue generating business. Ark's own products are sourced from related but largely non-dependenttechnologies within the Group and have been selected to enable them to be takenthrough development within the Group's own means and to benefit from Orphan DrugStatus and/or Fast Track Designation, as appropriate. This strategy has allowedthe Group to retain greater value and greater control of clinical developmenttimelines, and to mitigate the risks of dependency on any one particularprogramme or development partner. Ark has secured patents or has patentapplications pending for all its lead products in principal pharmaceuticalmarkets. Ark has its origins in businesses established in the mid-1990s by Professor JohnMartin and Mr Stephen Barker of University College London and Professor SeppoYla-Herttuala of the AI Virtanen Institute at the University of Kuopio, Finland,all of whom play leading roles in the Company's research and developmentprogrammes. Ark's shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2004(AKT.L). This announcement includes "forward-looking statements" which include allstatements other than statements of historical facts, including, withoutlimitation, those regarding the Group's financial position, business strategy,plans and objectives of management for future operations (including developmentplans and objectives relating to the Group's products and services), and anystatements preceded by, followed by or that include forward-looking terminologysuch as the words "targets", "believes", "estimates", "expects", "aims","intends", "will", "can", "may", "anticipates", "would", "should", "could" orsimilar expressions or the negative thereof. Such forward-looking statementsinvolve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factorsbeyond the Group's control that could cause the actual results, performance orachievements of the Group to be materially different from future results,performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-lookingstatements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptionsregarding the Group's present and future business strategies and the environmentin which the Group will operate in the future. Among the important factors thatcould cause the Group's actual results, performance or achievements to differmaterially from those in forward-looking statements include those relating toArk's funding requirements, regulatory approvals, clinical trials, reliance onthird parties, intellectual property, key personnel and other factors. Theseforward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. TheGroup expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate anyupdates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in thisannouncement to reflect any change in the Group's expectations with regardthereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any suchstatements are based. As a result of these factors, readers are cautioned not torely on any forward-looking statement. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange