SAN DIEGO, Jan. 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Taxus Cardium
Pharmaceuticals Group Inc. (Trading Symbol: CRXM) today announced
the election of the following three new directors: Mr. Jiayue
Zhang, President of Shanxi Taxus Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. (Shanxi
Taxus) and Shenzhen Frontsea Taxus Industry Capital Management, Mr.
John F. Wallace, President of
Philadelphia Financial Services LLC and former Chairman of the
Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and Wei-Wei
Zhang, M.D., Ph.D. an international pioneer in the research
and commercialization of gene-based therapeutics, as new members of
the Company's Board of Directors.
The Company reported that, following a strategic investment by
China-based Shanxi Taxus, and
consistent with strategic and collaboration and funding agreement,
Messrs. Jiayue Zhang and John
Wallace were elected to the Company's Board of
Directors. As of January 8,
2015, Shanxi Taxus beneficially owned approximately 3.5
million shares of the Company's common stock, or 27.5% of the
Company's currently outstanding common stock on a primary
basis.
Mr. Jiayue Zhang is President of Shanxi Taxus Pharmaceuticals
Co. Ltd. and Shenzhen Frontsea Taxus Industry Capital Management,
which are headquartered in Jinzhong City, Shanxi Providence,
China. Shanxi Taxus is focused on
the natural resource cultivation and manufacture of paclitaxel as
well as other lines of business including natural resource
management, retail pharmacy and healthcare product
manufacturing. Mr. Zhang also has interests in banking and
finance as well as a developing private equity arm. In connection
with his investment, Mr. Zhang has also been appointed as Executive
Chairman of the Company's Board of Directors.
Mr. John Wallace is an
experienced financial and equity trading services executive. He
served as Chairman of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) until
its acquisition by NASDAQ, and is currently President of
Philadelphia Financial Services LLC. He has been associated
with the PHLX since 1964, and during his years of expertise in
trading and investment matters he has been an advisor to numerous
companies and governments, including in the People's Republic of China.
Dr. Wei-Wei Zhang is currently
Managing Director of Adventin, Inc. a biotechnology services
business, and he has played an important role in the discovery,
research and commercialization of the first gene therapeutic
Gendicine (Adp53) approved by a major
world health regulatory authority (the SFDA of the People's Republic of China) for the
treatment of certain forms of cancer. Dr. Zhang has co-founded and
led other biotechnology companies in the
United States and PRC including Introgen Therapeutics,
Shenzhen SBiono Gene Tech, GenStar Therapeutics, GenWay Biotech,
Zhuhai Bioinforbody, Adventin, Acrotics and eBioCenter. Prior he
was director of molecular biology, a gene therapy unit of Baxter
Healthcare.
Consistent with the Company's Charter and By-laws, Mr. Jiayue
Zhang has been elected as a Class I Director, and Mr. Wallace as a
Class III Director. In addition, the Board also elected Dr.
Wei-Wei Zhang to the Board as a
Class III Director. Directors are elected to one of three
classes, each of which has a three year term. Class I
director terms expire in 2016, Class II terms expire in 2017, and
Class III directors currently have terms that will expire in
2015.
The Company also reported that Dr. Tyler
Dylan-Hyde, who is joining a European-based venture in the
field of Crispr/Cas gene editing, will continue on the Company's
Board of Directors as a Class II Director.
Mr. Jiayue Zhang, President of Shanxi Taxus, stated that "this
strategic investment collaboration reflects our interest in
expanding into new and highly innovative technology-driven medical
opportunities and advanced regenerative therapeutics. We are
initially focused on the commercialization of Cardium's FDA-cleared
Excellagen product into People's Republic
of China, and welcome an opportunity to further support the
clinical and commercial development of the breakthrough therapeutic
Generx [Ad5FGF-4] product candidate for China and potentially other international
markets."
"The strategic collaboration with Shanxi Taxus is another
important step forward to further support our plan to clinical
develop and process engineer Cardium's Generx product candidate to
be the first universally affordable, easy use and accessible
angiogenic gene therapy for patients with Cardiac Microvascular
insufficiency potentially for millions with heart disease on a
worldwide basis. We are very pleased to welcome Jiayue Zhang,
John Wallace and Wei-Wei Zhang to the Company's Board of
Directors, and appreciate Tyler
Dylan-Hyde's continuing involvement with the Company as we
move forward. They all share our vision to internationally develop
a new generation of bio-therapeutics for global markets," noted
Christopher J. Reinhard, Chief
Executive of Cardium Therapeutics.
Taxus Cardium Pharmaceuticals Group
Taxus Cardium Pharmaceuticals Group Inc. is a holding company
that operates Cardium Therapeutics, a development stage advanced
regenerative therapeutics company focused on the late-stage
clinical and commercial development of regenerative medicine
therapeutics including: (1) Angionetics, a business unit focused on
the clinical and commercialization of Generx®, an
interventional cardiology, angiogenic gene therapy product
candidate designed for the potential treatment of patients with
cardiac microvascular insufficiency and myocardial ischemia due to
advanced coronary artery disease; and (2) Activation Therapeutics,
a business unit focused on the commercialization of
Excellagen®, an FDA-cleared flowable dermal matrix
designed as a professional-use advanced wound care product for the
treatment of chronic non-healing diabetic foot, venous and pressure
ulcers, which also has additional potential tissue regeneration
applications based on stem cells and other biologics
(www.excellagen.com). In November
2014, the Company reported the formation of Angionetics and
Activation Therapeutics to facilitate the independent monetization
of Generx and Excellagen. For more information about Taxus
Cardium, visit the Company's website www.cardiumthx.com, and for
access to the Generx 2014 BIO International presentation visit
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=77949&p=irol-presentations.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed
in this press release are forward looking and reflect numerous
assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many
of which are beyond our control and may cause actual results to
differ materially from expectations. For example, there can be no
assurance that results or trends observed in one clinical study or
procedure will be reproduced in subsequent studies or in actual
use; that new clinical studies will be successful or will lead to
approvals or clearances from health regulatory authorities, or that
approvals in one jurisdiction will help to support studies or
approvals elsewhere; that the company can attract suitable
commercialization partners for our products or that we or partners
can successfully commercialize them; that our product or product
candidates will not be unfavorably compared to competitive products
that may be regarded as safer, more effective, easier to use or
less expensive or blocked by third party proprietary rights or
other means; that the products and product candidates referred to
in this report or in our other reports will be successfully
commercialized and their use reimbursed, or will enhance our market
value; that new product opportunities or commercialization efforts
will be successfully established; that third parties on whom we
depend will perform as anticipated; that we can raise sufficient
capital from partnering, monetization or other fundraising
transactions to maintain our stock exchange listing or adequately
fund ongoing operations; or that we will not be adversely affected
by these or other risks and uncertainties that could impact our
operations, business or other matters, as described in more detail
in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We
undertake no obligation to release publicly the results of any
revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances arising after the date hereof.
Copyright 2015 Cardium Therapeutics, Inc. All rights
reserved.
For Terms of Use Privacy Policy, please visit
www.cardiumthx.com.
Cardium Therapeutics®,
Generx®, Cardionovo®, Tissue Repair™,
Excellagen®, Excellarate™, Genedexa™, and LifeAgain™,
are trademarks of Cardium Therapeutics, Inc., Tissue Repair Company
or LifeAgain Insurance Solutions Inc. Other trademarks belong to
their respective owners.
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