(Honolulu, July 27, 2009) -- Hawaii Biotech, Inc., has appointed life sciences executive Michael Spooner to its board of directors. Spooner has extensive experience with investment firms and business communities across the globe, having spent the majority of the past 25 years living and working internationally.
³Michael has an outstanding track record in the international commercialization of life sciences companies, and we look forward to his valuable input and assistance,² said Dr. Elliot Parks, CEO of Hawaii Biotech Inc
Spooner is a non-executive director of Mesoblast Limited (ASX:MSB), an Australian adult stem cell company, which he led through a successful public listing as executive chairman. Spooner also serves on the board of Peplin Inc., an innovative dermatology company based in San Francisco (ASX:PLI), and a number of private companies.
He was previously managing director and CEO of Ventracor Limited, where he led the transformation of this small Australian listed life sciences company. Prior to Ventracor, he was a principal partner and director of consulting services with PriceWaterhouse Coopers (Coopers & Lybrand) in Hong Kong for several years.
Spooner replaces Dr. Richard Opara, of Chopin Opus 1, who retired from the Hawaii Biotech Inc board.
About Hawaii Biotech Inc.:
Hawaii Biotech is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the research and development of prophylactic vaccines for infectious diseases.
Hawaii Biotech has developed a proprietary protein production platform that has application to the production of proteins for use as antigens in infectious disease vaccines. Hawaii Biotech is developing vaccines for dengue virus and West Nile virus and has a pipeline which includes vaccine candidates for malaria, tick borne encephalitis virus and influenza. Hawaii Biotech, the oldest and largest biotech company in Hawaii, is headquartered in Honolulu. For more information, please visit: http://www.hibiotech.com
