HONOLULU, Dec. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Aiea-based Hawaii Biotech Inc. is pleased to announce the election of Steven J. Mento, Ph.D., to its Board of Directors. The election took place in Honolulu on December 14, 2006 at the Company's Annual Meeting of Stockholders.
Dr. Mento has 25 years of combined experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry, serving in key management roles and on corporate boards. From 1997 to 2005, Dr. Mento was President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Mento guided Idun during its transition from a drug discovery company to a drug development company with multiple products in or near human clinical testing. In April 2005, Idun was sold to Pfizer. Prior to joining Idun, he served as President of Chiron Viagene, Inc., and was a key member of the management team responsible for the sale of Viagene to Chiron. Dr. Mento joined Viagene, a gene therapy company, in 1992 where he was Vice President of Research and Development. Previously, he led the viral vaccine development team at Lederle. Dr. Mento is a graduate of Rutgers University, where he received a PhD degree in microbiology. He currently serves on the Boards of the Emerging Companies Section and Health Section Governing Bodies of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO); Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. ; and, privately-held Grannus BioSciences Ltd.
Speaking on behalf of the other Directors, Dr. Leonard Firestone, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer observed, "The Board is very pleased that Steve Mento has joined us. His vast experience in research, development and commercialization of vaccines, will no doubt be of great value to our Company and shareholders."
Hawaii Biotech, Inc., the State of Hawaii's leading private biotechnology company, has gained worldwide recognition as a leader in the development of vaccines to protect from emerging infectious disease, including avian (pandemic) Influenza, West Nile encephalitis, and Dengue Fever. Hawaii Biotech's proprietary manufacturing platform, which exploits recombinant DNA technology to produce commercially scaleable, ultra-high quality vaccine components, is uniquely suited to produce commercially-viable vaccines in the quantities and timeframe needed to address emerging infectious diseases.
Dr. Mento stated, "I look forward to working with the team at Hawaii Biotech as they move forward with the clinical development of their novel vaccine candidates."
About Hawaii Biotech's Vaccine Business
Hawaii Biotech's vaccine development platform is based on production of proprietary antigens (proteins) that, when appropriately adjuvanted, provoke immune responses equivalent to, or better than, traditional live or inactivated viral vaccines -- with a significantly improved safety profile. During the past 3 years, Hawaii Biotech received funding commitments of over US$30 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and other governmental agencies, to develop vaccines to prevent human infection by the West Nile virus, Dengue Fever virus, pandemic and annual Influenza viruses, and other serious incurable diseases including hepatitis C, malaria, Tick- borne and Japanese encephalitis, Ebola, and Eastern equine encephalitis. The Company currently expects that it will be able to commence human clinical trials in Hawaii for a West Nile virus vaccine in 2007. For more information on Hawaii Biotech visit http://www.hibiotech.com.
Hawaii BiotechCONTACT: Robert F. Kay, +1-808-732-0631, rkay@lava.net for Hawaii Biotech
Web site: http://www.hibiotech.com/
