Q Therapeutics, Inc. Appoints Diane Jorkasky, MD, to Board of Directors

SALT LAKE CITY, UT--(Marketwire - March 14, 2013) - Q Therapeutics, Inc. today announced the appointment of Diane Jorkasky, M.D., FACP, as an independent member of its Board of Directors. Dr. Jorkasky will assume the board seat formerly held by Joydeep Goswami, Ph.D., President of Life Technologies, Japan.

With the addition of Dr. Jorkasky to Q Therapeutics’ Board, the number of directors remains at six and includes Peter Barton Hutt, of Covington & Burling and former Chief Counsel to the FDA; Peter Grebow, Ph.D., former Executive Vice President of Cephalon Ventures, Executive Vice President Technical Operations and Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Cephalon; Linda Powers, Chief Executive Officer of Northwest Biotherapeutics and Managing Director of Toucan Capital; Dinesh Patel, Ph.D., Managing Director of Signal Peak Ventures and former Chief Executive Officer of TheraTech; and Deborah Eppstein Ph.D., President and CEO of Q Therapeutics.

Commenting on her appointment, Dr. Jorkasky said, “I am most impressed by Q Therapeutics’ cell therapy approach to treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. My decision to join Q’s Board was spurred by the quality of their science, the knowledge of its team and the need for therapies in diseases such as ALS. Having had both a family member and a friend die from ALS inspires in me a great personal level of commitment to helping Q Therapeutics achieve success.”

Dr. Jorkasky is a 25-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry with experience in Phases 1-4 clinical trials, including protocol development, conduct and reporting; site placement strategy; and regulatory interaction. During nine years at Pfizer, Dr. Jorkasky held a number of positions of increasing responsibility advancing to Vice President of Development and Head of Worldwide Clinical Research Operations as well as the leader of the Operational Excellence Board for Development. She was responsible for ensuring that all exploratory development, clinical pharmacology, translational medicine and clinical technology studies were conducted and reported. In this role, she led the execution of over 160 clinical studies per year. At SmithKline Beecham, Dr. Jorkasky served as Vice President and Director of Clinical Pharmacology for North America. Currently, Dr. Jorkasky serves on the Board of Tengion, Inc., a regenerative medicine company focused on the repair and replacement of tissues and organs. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of BioMotive and is the Chief Scientific Officer for Complexa, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative therapies for the treatment of inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Dr. Jorkasky is board certified in internal medicine, nephrology and clinical pharmacology. She is on the medical school faculties of Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, Uniformed Service of Health Sciences and is a Professor of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. She has published over 100 peer review articles and is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow.

Dr. Eppstein noted, “We are delighted that Dr. Jorkasky has joined our Board of Directors. Her extensive clinical experience and leadership in big pharma, biotech, and regenerative medicine companies, encompassing all phases of clinical trials, should prove to be invaluable to Q as we transition to a clinical stage company. I welcome the opportunity to work with Diane as we bring Q Therapeutics through its next exciting growth phase.”

“In closing,” added Dr. Eppstein, “I’d like to express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Joydeep Goswami for his insights and valuable contributions to our Board over the past several years. Life Technologies has, and will continue, to supply our Company with important reagents and development tools that are critical to our efforts. Moreover, our collaboration with Joydeep’s group in making our cells available to the research market has served to advance our science in a meaningful way. On behalf of Q’s management team and my fellow board members, I wish him well and continued success as President of Life Technologies, Japan.”

About Q Therapeutics, Inc.
Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, Q Therapeutics, Inc. is a fully reporting, non-trading company, engaged in developing adult stem cell therapies to treat debilitating diseases of the central nervous system. The Company’s first product, Q-Cells®, is a cell-based therapeutic intended to restore or preserve normal activity of neurons by providing essential support functions that occur in healthy central nervous system tissues. Q-Cells may be applicable to a wide range of central nervous system diseases, including demyelinating conditions such as multiple sclerosis, transverse myelitis, cerebral palsy and stroke; as well as other neurodegenerative diseases and injuries, such as ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. Q Therapeutics’ initial clinical target is ALS, with a first IND submission targeted for late 2013. For more information, visit www.qthera.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information
This news release may contain forward-looking statements made pursuant to the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements in this press release regarding potential applications of Q Therapeutics’ technologies constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and commercialization of potential products, uncertainty of clinical trial results or regulatory approvals or clearances, need for future capital, dependence upon collaborators and maintenance of its intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Additional information on potential factors that could affect results and other risks and uncertainties are detailed from time to time in Q Therapeutics’ periodic reports, including the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2012 and the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011.


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