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Seattle, WA (I-Newswire) January 5, 2011 - Pacific Biomarkers, Inc. (PBI) (OTCBB: PBMC), a provider of biomarker laboratory services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics industries, today announced the establishment of a Scientific Advisory Board.
The Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) was created by, and reports to, the Company’s Science & Technology (S&T) Committee, a subcommittee of the board of directors established in March 2010. The S&T Committee is charged with assisting the board and the management team in evaluating technology strategies and initiatives and advising on growth opportunities for the company. To help fulfill its mission, the S&T Committee has assembled an SAB comprised of independent experts knowledgeable about drug and diagnostic development, as well as central-laboratory and biomarker services.
The Company intends to consult extensively with the newly created SAB to evaluate new technologies and to explore appropriate growth avenues, especially as they relate to the Company’s clinical biomarker services. A primary focus of the Company’s business and growth is its clinical biomarker services division, which has grown steadily and is expected to continue to grow and represent a larger portion of revenue over the next fiscal year[s]. Based on the trend toward targeted and personalized medicine, PBI’s clinical biomarker services division addresses a rapidly increasing sector of laboratory services for clinical drug development, the emerging field of biomarker assay development and testing. In addition, to capitalize on current market opportunities, the Company is evaluating strategies for expansion of services and activities by organic growth as well as by external partnerships or other strategic initiatives.
The members of the SAB are:
John C. Bloom, VMD, PhD – President, Bloom Consulting Services; formerly Executive Director, Diagnostic & Experimental Medicine, Lilly Research Labs, Eli Lilly & Co. Dr. Bloom holds a B.S. degree in biology from the University of Pittsburgh and doctorates in veterinary medicine and experimental hematology from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his postdoctoral training at Lankenau Hospital (Jefferson Medical College) in hematology/oncology and served on the Faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Med as Chief, Clinical Laboratory Medicine, before joining Smith Kline & French Labs in 1981 as Associate Dir of Pathology. Dr. Bloom is a past president of the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology and has been active in the fields of hematotoxicology, hepatotoxicology and immunotoxicology within the pharmaceutical industry. He has authored several manuscripts, chapters and reviews on these topics; edited texts on toxicology and clinical biomarkers in drug development; and served on several committees sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Society of Toxicologic Pathology and PhRMA.
Ronald L. Gingerich, PhD – President, Conturix Research, Inc.; formerly founder and CEO of LINCO Research, Inc. Dr Gingerich earned a PhD degree from Indiana University in 1975 and completed postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine where he served on the faculty for 20 years. During his tenure at Washington University he held positions of Associate Research Professor and Director of the Radioimmunoassay Facility. Dr Gingerich founded LINCO Research, Inc in 1978, a company focused on providing analytical research tools to the academic, biotech and pharmaceutical diabetes and obesity markets. LINCO Research was an early adopter of the Luminex Multiplexing technology. He later founded LINCO Diagnostic Services, Inc to provide GLP biomarker analytical services support for preclinical and clinical drug development trials for major biotech and pharmaceutical companies. He served as CEO and Chief Scientific Officer for both companies until their acquisition by Millipore Corporation (now part of EMD Merck) in 2006. Dr. Gingerich is an active member of professional societies in the life-sciences industry such as the American Diabetes Association, American Association of Lab Animal Science, American Association for Clinical Chemistry and the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists. Dr. Gingerich has authored over 100 publications and holds 2 patents.
Thomas Lohmann, MD – Director of Clinical Pathology, Baylor Healthcare System and CMO, Med Fusion Clin-Labs and Clin-Trials; formerly CMO, Quintiles Laboratories. Dr. Lohmann is board certified in Clinical Pathology, Hematopathology, and Chemical Pathology, with a special interest in clinical trials. He attended Louisiana State University Medical School and served his residency with Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation. Dr. Lohmann works primarily at Baylor University Medical Center.
“This is an extraordinarily strong group of independent experts with extensive industry experience,” commented Ron Helm, PBI’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are absolutely delighted that they have agreed to join PBI’s newly created SAB. We believe that each member brings a unique and highly relevant perspective to our company and the space in which we operate. Collectively, this SAB combines deep experience in clinical drug development, in vitro diagnostics and assay development, biomarkers, central lab services, clinical pathology, and biotech entrepreneurship. It’s hard to conceive of a group of individuals more suited to advising the company as we continue our growth as a highly respected provider of specialty laboratory and biomarker assay services.
“We are seeing profound changes in the pharma and biotech industries and in the general healthcare landscape. These changes include a shift toward personalized medicine and an expectation that novel drugs will be highly targeted, effective, and safe. These developments present both challenges and opportunities, which we believe PBI is uniquely positioned to exploit. We believe our SAB has the knowledge, experience and insight to advise us as we continue to refine our technology strategy in the evolving drug-development marketplace.” Helm concluded, “We are very encouraged by our recent successes in signing significant new contracts for specialty testing in the areas of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and arthritis drug development, as well as by the continued growth of our clinical biomarker services. We believe we have significant momentum going forward and the SAB has been assembled at just the right time to help evaluate and advance our potential growth opportunities and strategic initiatives.”
About Pacific Biomarkers, Inc. (PBI) Established in 1989, PBI provides specialized central laboratory and contract research services to support pharmaceutical and diagnostic manufacturers conducting human clinical trial research. The Company provides expert services in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, arthritis, and nutrition. The PBI laboratory is accredited by the College of American Pathologists, New York State, and the Lipid Standardization Program. PBI's clients include many of the world's largest pharmaceutical, biotech, and diagnostic companies. PBI also provides clinical biomarker services focusing on the emerging field of biomarker assay development and testing. Services include validating and performing ligand-binding assays for novel clinical biomarkers, immunogenicity testing, cell-based assay testing and multiplex testing. PBI is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and its common stock trades on the OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol "PBMC." For more information about PBI, visit the company's web site at www.pacbio.com.
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