SUNNYVALE, Calif., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cepheid today announced that it has appointed its Scientific Advisory Board to include eight internationally recognized experts in infectious disease, oncology, and genetics.
“Cepheid’s current focus is on rapid, accurate detection of hospital acquired infections, which leverages the ability of the GeneXpert(R) System to deliver medically actionable results, on-demand and around the clock,” said Dr. David H. Persing, MD, Ph.D., Chief Medical and Technology Officer at Cepheid. “However, other aspects of GeneXpert technology, including 6-color fluorescent multi-channel detection, accurate nucleic acid quantitation, high-level multiplexing, our proprietary virtual array technology, and microRNA detection, are extremely well suited for oncology testing and personalized medicine. We plan to introduce tests over the next few years in the fields of infectious disease, cancer and genetics that take advantage of the full breadth of GeneXpert capabilities.”
“We are extremely pleased to have recruited such an outstanding team of clinicians and scientists to the Cepheid SAB,” said John L. Bishop, CEO of Cepheid. “From a strategic point of view, this group provides us with a strong scientific perspective, both for currently developed products as well as future products to be developed in the infectious disease, oncology and genetics fields. We expect to meet with the Scientific Advisory Board at least twice each year on an on-going basis.”
Members of the Cepheid SAB include:
Alex van Belkum, Ph.D.
Dr. van Belkum is Professor of Molecular Microbiology at the Department of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Carlo M. Croce, MD
Dr. Croce is the John W. Wolfe Chair in Human Cancer Genetics, and Chairman, Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics at Ohio State University, and is also Director of the Human Cancer Genetics Program and the Genetics Institute at OHSU.
Herbert A. Fritsche, Ph.D.
Dr. Fritsche is Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Chief of Clinical Chemistry at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Joe W. Gray, Ph.D.
Dr. Gray is Associate Laboratory Director for Life and Environmental Sciences, and Director of the Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is also Adjunct Professor of Laboratory Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Patrick R. Murray, Ph.D.
Dr. Murray is Chief, Microbiology Service, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center.
Franklyn G. Prendergast, MD, Ph.D.
Dr. Prendergast is Edmond and Marion Guggenheim Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Professor of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the Mayo Clinic. He is also Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine.
David Relman, MD
Dr. Relman is Chief of Infectious Diseases at the Palo Alto Veteran’s Administration Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Michael F. Sarosdy, MD
Dr. Sarosdy is a board-certified urologic surgeon at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center, San Antonio, TX and was previously Chief, Division of Urologic Surgery at UT San Antonio Health Science Center, and Director of the South Texas Prostate Cancer Program at the San Antonio Cancer Institute.
About Cepheid
Cepheid , based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is an on-demand molecular diagnostics company that develops, manufactures, and markets fully-integrated systems for genetic analysis in the clinical, industrial and biothreat markets. The Company’s systems enable rapid, sophisticated genetic testing for organisms and genetic-based diseases by automating otherwise complex manual laboratory procedures. Cepheid’s easy-to-use systems integrate a number of complicated and time-intensive steps, including sample preparation, DNA amplification and detection, which enable the analysis of complex biological samples in its proprietary test cartridges. Through its strong molecular biology capabilities, the Company is focusing on those applications where rapid molecular testing is particularly important, such as identifying infectious disease and cancer in the clinical market; food, agricultural, and environmental testing in the industrial market; and identifying bio-terrorism agents in the biothreat market. See http://www.cepheid.com for more information.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are not purely historical regarding Cepheid’s or its management’s intentions, beliefs, expectations and strategies for the future, including those relating to potential growth and future product releases. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to various risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from the Company’s current expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties such as those relating to: the performance and market acceptance of products; sufficient customer demand; our ability to complete clinical trials successfully in a timely manner for products to be marketed in clinical markets; uncertainties related to the FDA regulatory and European regulatory processes; unforeseen development and manufacturing problems; the need for additional licenses for new tests and other products and the terms of such licenses; and underlying market conditions worldwide. Readers should also refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Cepheid’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2006 and its other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
All forward-looking statements and reasons why results might differ included in this release are made as of the date of this press release, based on information currently available to Cepheid, and Cepheid assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statement or reasons why results might differ.
NO ENDORSEMENT OF ANY ORGANIZATION, PRODUCT OR SERVICE MENTIONED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS INTENDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH OR ITS EMPLOYEES OR SHOULD BE INFERRED
Cepheid
CONTACT: John L. Bishop, CEO, +1-408-541-4191, john.bishop@cepheid.com, orJohn R. Sluis, CFO, +1-408-541-4191, john.sluis@cepheid.com, both ofCepheid; or media, Chris Stamm of Schwartz Communications, +1-781-684-0770,cepheid@schwartz-pr.com, for Cepheid; or investors, Jason Spark of PorterNovelli, +1-619-849-6005, jspark@pnlifesciences.com, for Cepheid
Web site: http://www.cepheid.com/
