Senior Financial and Operations Executive Bolsters Commercialization Efforts for HistoRx
—Thomas Gerson Joins as CFO and VP as Company Advances Commercialization of Molecular Diagnostic Tests—
New Haven, CT March 6, 2006 – HistoRx, Inc. announced today the appointment of a key member to the company’s management team, with the addition of Thomas E. Gerson as vice president of business operations and chief financial officer. A veteran executive with senior positions at CGI Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, Mr. Gerson brings experience developing emerging research companies into robust commercial entities. He will play an important and strategic role as HistoRx continues to evolve from research and development toward commercialization.
“As we work to advance the commercialization of our first in vitro molecular diagnostic product for breast cancer, Tom will be a crucial part of developing our infrastructure and operational foundation,” noted Dr. Robert A. Curtis, president and chief executive officer of HistoRx. “His experience in successful fundraising completions and deal negotiations will play a strategic role as we seek to expand our current pharma and biotech partnerships as well as raise additional capital to propel our product and technology development.”
This appointment comes on the heels of several other recently announced, strategic hires for HistoRx including; Donna Marino, vice president of Diagnostics; Lorah Perlee, Ph.D, vice president of Technical Operations; and Robert Tuttle, M. Phil., director of Bioinformatics.
“To date, HistoRx has made significant strides in the development of the AQUA® technology platform,” commented Mr. Thomas E. Gerson, chief financial officer and vice president of business operations of HistoRx. “HistoRx has secured top-tier collaborations researching target validation, preclinical efficacy and safety, and selection of patients for clinical trials, which demonstrate the breadth and utility of this novel platform. It seemed like a natural fit for me to join at this juncture in the company’s development.”
A seasoned finance and business administration executive, for more than 25 years Thomas E. Gerson has established a reputation for expert guidance and strategic fiscal management of complex, scientifically oriented businesses. Prior to joining HistoRx, he was chief financial officer of CGI Pharmaceuticals, after serving as vice president of finance and operations for CGI. Before that, he was director of financial Planning and Analysis for Sanofi Research Division, the U.S. R&D operations of Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for financial analysis, operational and capital budgeting, and project accounting. Prior to that, he was director of Financial Planning and Analysis for Sterling Winthrop Consumer Health Group. He received an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago and a BA in Economics and History from Boston College.
The AQUA® platform, under development by HistoRx, represents the first integrated automated fluorescence-based imaging platform to identify and quantitate tissue biomarkers in high throughput tissue microarray format or in whole tissue slices. The AQUA® platform simultaneously measures changes in expression levels of multiple protein biomarkers at the subcellular level while maintaining the spatial relationship between the targets of interest. The technology has direct opportunities to enhance the precision and speed of drug development, aid the selection of patient-specific drug therapy, and advance the application of quantitative pathology to improve patient care.
About HistoRx, Inc.
HistoRx, Inc. is introducing a new generation of advanced quantitative diagnostic products for research and clinical pathology markets based on the company’s proprietary integrated tissue analysis platform, AQUA®, which the company developed from technology pioneered at the Yale University School of Medicine. Initially, HistoRx is providing contract services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries while selectively licensing its technologies to leading academic and not-for-profit research institutions. Simultaneously, the company is advancing development of proprietary fluorescence-based molecular diagnostic tests for use with its AQUA® platform that will enable biologically based selection of patients who are most likely to benefit from specific therapies. HistoRx is based in New Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.historx.com.
