ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Adeona
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE Amex: AEN), is pleased to announce the
appointment of Jeff Riley, to serve
as its independent, non-executive Chairman of the Board. Mr. Riley
has served on the Company's Board of Directors since March of 2010,
and will continue to serve on the Audit and Nominations Committees.
James S. Kuo, M.D., M.B.A., will
continue to serve as Adeona's Chief Executive Officer, President
and as a member of the Board.
Mr. Riley has more than 20 years of experience in the
biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries during which he
negotiated numerous worldwide strategic corporate alliances,
established joint ventures, and assisted in obtaining venture
financings to support product development. Currently, Mr. Riley is
Managing Director of 526 Ventures, a life science-focused
consulting firm with a commercial and transactional focus. He sits
on the advisory boards of an Australia-based venture fund (Queensland
Biocapital Fund) and Ruga Corporation. Mr. Riley has held senior
corporate and commercial development positions with several biotech
companies and his pharmaceutical experience includes commercial
management and mergers and acquisition roles for Pfizer, SmithKline
Beecham and Citibank-Brazil at both the corporate level as well as
in Latin America, southern
Africa and Turkey. Additionally, he served as CFO and VP
Corporate Development for Nichols Institute Diagnostics. Mr. Riley
holds a Bachelor of Science in International Relations/Biology and
participated in a dual-degree graduate program, MBA/MIM, sponsored
by Arizona State University and the
Thunderbird School of Global Management.
"We congratulate Jeff on his appointment as independent Chairman
of the Adeona Board. This important step further strengthens
Adeona's corporate governance practices," stated Dr. Kuo. "Jeff's
prior experience as a board member and senior management team
member in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors will be
instrumental in guiding our business development, financial and
strategic development initiatives."
Upon his appointment Mr. Riley stated, "I look forward to
working closely with Jim as the Company moves through the next
phase of clinical development and toward product commercialization.
Transitioning the Chairman role to an independent board member
should allow Jim and his management team to focus on the operations
of the Company, thereby increasing value for our shareholders."
About Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Adeona is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing
innovative medicines for the treatment of serious central nervous
system diseases. The Company's strategy is to license product
candidates that have demonstrated a certain level of clinical
efficacy and develop them to a stage that results in a significant
commercial collaboration. Adeona is developing, or has partnered
the development of, drug product candidates to treat multiple
sclerosis, fibromyalgia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and
Alzheimer's disease. The Company is currently preparing to make the
following products commercially available: reaZin™, a
prescription medical food for the dietary management of zinc
deficiency associated with Alzheimer's disease, and
wellZin™, a homeopathic over-the-counter medicine for
reducing the duration and symptoms of the common cold. Adeona also
operates Adeona Clinical Laboratory, a wholly owned clinical
reference laboratory that provides a broad array of chemistry and
microbiology diagnostic tests. For more information, please visit
Adeona's website at www.adeonapharma.com.
This release includes forward-looking statements on Adeona's
current expectations and projections about future events. In some
cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology
such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects,"
"anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and
similar expressions. These statements are based upon current
beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number
of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict
and include statements regarding the effects of appointing an
independent, non-executive Chairman. The forward-looking statements
are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those set forth or implied by any
forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those reflected in
Adeona's forward-looking statements include, among others, a
failure to maintain and attract independent board members, a
failure by us to achieve desired results from our clinical
development programs, a failure by us to successfully commercialize
our product candidates, a failure to increase shareholder value and
other factors described in Adeona's report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2010 and any
other filings with the SEC. The information in this release is
provided only as of the date of this release, and Adeona undertakes
no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in
this release on account of new information, future events, or
otherwise, except as required by law.
SOURCE Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
