London- 21 February 2011 – Ark Therapeutics Group plc is pleased to announce that Dr David Bloxham has been appointed as a non-executive director with effect from 1 March 2011.
Dr Bloxham has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry and a distinguished academic background.
In 1984 Dr Bloxham became Director of Biological Research at Roche, UK and from 1988-1990 he was R&D Director at Laboratorios Almirall in Spain. In 1990 he joined the board of Celltech Group plc as R&D Director. In 1998 Dr Bloxham joined Cobra Therapeutics plc as CEO and in 2004 was appointed CEO at Evolutec Group plc where he became chairman in 2006 before selling the company in 2009. From 2004 until 2009 he was Chairman of The Babraham Institute in Cambridge, UK. Dr Bloxham has also held a number of non-executive directorships in public and private companies in the UK biotech sector.
Dr Bloxham gained a 1st class honours degree in Physiology and Biochemistry followed by a PhD in 1971 from the University of Southampton. Following this he was a Fullbright Scholar at the University of Wisconsin, USA until returning in 1973 to become senior lecturer in Biochemistry at the University of Southampton Medical School until 1984. During this time he was a visiting Professor at the University of Washington (1978-80) and in 1981 an EMBO research fellow at the Max Planck Institute, Martinsried.
As previously announced, as a result of Dr Bloxham’s appointment as a non-executive director Andrew Christie will be standing down as a non executive director on 9 March 2011. David Prince has agreed to take on the role of Senior Independent Director previously held by Andrew Christie.
Iain Ross, Chairman of Ark Therapeutics Group plc commented:
“We are delighted David has agreed to join the board of the Company as he brings invaluable experience and knowledge of R&D in the biotech setting. The Ark Board is looking to re-build value on behalf of shareholders and an integral part will be to maximize and develop the potential of our discovery research assets and this appointment further confirms our intent to succeed.”
“I would like to thank Andrew for his contribution to the Company, initially as a Director, then as Chairman and more recently as Senior Independent Director.”
In accordance with Listing Rule 9.6.13, the following information is disclosable:
In the past five years, Dr Bloxham has held a directorship of the AIM-listed company, Evolutec Group plc. This directorship ceased in April 2009.
The Company confirms that there is no further information to disclose in relation to Listing Rule 9.6.13.
For further information please contact:
Ark Therapeutics Group plc Martyn Williams, CEO Iain Ross, Chairman Tel: + 44 (0)20 7388 7722
Financial Dynamics Ben Atwell Susan Quigley Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 3113
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 and cancer. These are large and growing markets, where opportunities exist for effective new products to generate significant revenues.
Ark has an early stage pipeline emanating from collaborations with University College, London and the AI Virtanen Institute in Kuopio, Finland, the development of which it intends to progress in collaboration with pharmaceutical and biotech partners.
In addition Ark has the ability to off-set a proportion of its R&D costs and to generate sustainable revenues through the exploitation of its proprietary technology platform, process development, scale-up and manufacturing capabilities on behalf of third parties.
Ark has its origins in businesses established in the mid-1990s by Professor John Martin and Mr Stephen Barker of University College London and Professor Seppo Ylä-Herttuala of the AI Virtanen Institute at the University of Kuopio, Finland, all of whom remain consultants on the Company’s research and development programmes.
Ark’s shares were first listed on the London Stock Exchange in March 2004 (AKT.L).
Mo Noonan Senior Manager Financial Dynamics Holborn Gate, 26 Southampton Buildings London, WC2A 1PB D +44 (0)20 7269 7116 M +44 (0)7876 444 977 www.fd.com
