Great Basin Corporation Appoints New Board Members
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Great Basin Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: GBSN), a molecular diagnostics company, today welcomed Ronald K. Labrum and Sam Chawla to its board of directors. The two directors joined the board on Oct. 9 (concurrent with the Company's Initial Public Offering), expanding the size of the Great Basin's board of directors from three to five. Both Mr. Labrum and Mr. Chawla will serve as independent directors at Great Basin Scientific, Inc.
"We're delighted to have Ron Labrum and Sam Chawla on the Great Basin board of directors," said Ryan Ashton, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Great Basin. "Ron's proven and outstanding track record in delivering operating results at large and fast-growing companies helps him to contribute as Great Basin prepares for its next phase of growth. Sam's strong financial background and insightful strategic understanding of the diagnostics industry adds depth to our Board as we work to continually develop our capital structure and sustain our growth."
Ronald K. Labrum serves as Chairman of Suture Express, Inc., a leading wound care supply distribution company, and as independent director at Wright Medical Group, Inc., a leader in extremity and biologic solutions with a market capitalization in excess of $1 billion. Mr. Labrum is also on the board of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and served on the board of Aptalis Pharma, Inc., which was acquired by Forest Laboratories in early 2014. Mr. Labrum has over 30 years of operating experience in the medical technology and supplies industry, including serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Fenwal, Inc., a leading U.S.-based provider of transfusion technology products for blood collection, separation and processing prior to its acquisition by Fresenius Kabi in 2012. Mr. Labrum was also Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Healthcare Supply Chain Services, a $70 billion subsidiary of Cardinal Health, President of Allegiance Manufacturing & Distribution and Allegiance Healthcare Corp., both subsidiaries of American Hospital Supply Corp., and Baxter International, Inc. He received his undergraduate degree from Utah State University.
Sam Chawla is a Portfolio Manager at Perceptive Advisors LLC, a dedicated healthcare investment fund. He is also on the board of directors at Response Genetics, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on oncology, and VBI Vaccines, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing novel vaccine-based therapeutics. Prior to joining Perceptive Advisors in August 2013, Mr. Chawla was a Managing Director of the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at UBS Securities LLC. Mr. Chawla has been a senior advisor on numerous strategic mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions and equity and debt financings in the diagnostics and medical technology sectors. Mr. Chawla received his undergraduate degree from The Johns Hopkins University and his MBA in Management from The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.
About Great Basin Scientific
Great Basin Scientific is a molecular diagnostics company that commercializes breakthrough chip-based technologies. The Company is dedicated to the development of simple, yet powerful, sample-to-result technology and products that provide fast, multiple-pathogen diagnoses of infectious diseases. The Company's vision is to make molecular diagnostic testing so simple and cost-effective that every patient will be tested for every serious infection, reducing misdiagnoses and significantly limiting the spread of infectious disease. More information can be found on the company's website at www.gbscience.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, which are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding our potential future growth. Forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. These risk and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: (i) our limited operating history and history or losses; (ii) our ability to develop and commercialize new products and the timing of commercialization; (iii) our ability to obtain capital when needed; and (iv) other risks set forth in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risks set forth in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2014. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and Great Basin Scientific specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
Media Contact:
Martina Schwarzkopf, Ph.D.
Russo Partners, LLC
212.845.4292
martina.schwarzkopf@russopartnersllc.com
Investor Relations Contact:
Bob Yedid
ICR
646.277.1250
bob.yedid@icrinc.com
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SOURCE Great Basin Scientific, Inc.