Dr
John Padfield Appointed to Board of Akubio as Chairman
Cambridge,
UK, April 30th 2003….
Akubio Ltd, the acoustic detection technology company, has announced the
appointment of Dr John Padfield as Chairman of its board. Dr
Padfield was previously a board director of Amersham plc and CEO of
Chiroscience plc.
Commenting
on his new position, Dr Padfield said:
“Akubio
has achieved a major breakthrough
in molecular detection by developing acoustic technology that can detect
the sounds that molecular bonds make when they break. This
technology has significant advantages over existing technologies with
tremendous potential across many applications including in diagnostics,
and pharmaceutical and life science research. I look forward to working
with the board and management team to achieve commercial success.”
Dr
Padfield brings to Akubio extensive experience in both the biotech and
pharmaceutical industries. Currently he serves as a non executive director
on several boards including Lorantis Ltd and Profile Therapeutics plc.
Over the last 10 years he has gained extensive, global, public board-level
experience: until December 2002 he was CEO of Amersham Health and a board
director of FTSE 100 company Amersham plc; between 1998 and 2002 he was on
the board of IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, Inc; and he served for five
years as CEO of Chiroscience Group plc until its merger with Celltech plc
in 1999. Prior to this he held a variety of senior positions within Glaxo
plc for over 15 years.
In
addition to his commercial roles, Dr Padfield is a leading figure on
public and industry bodies: presently he is a Council Member of the UK
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and he was
a Director and Chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) from 1995
to 1999.
With
the addition of Dr Padfield Akubio’s board consists of Dr John
Pritchard, CEO, Dr Matthew Cooper, CSO, Dr Stephen Bunting, Dr Tim Rink,
Dr John Shields, Dr David Klenerman and Bill Matthews.
Welcoming
Dr Padfield, Dr Pritchard said:
“We
are delighted to have attracted a chairman of Dr Padfield’s caliber to
Akubio. This is an endorsement of Akubio’s innovative technology. His
experience ranges from managing biotech companies through their early
growth and public listing as well as running large businesses within major
corporations. We are confident that he will bring this experience to bear
in steering Akubio.”
-ends-
Notes
to Editors
Akubio
Ltd
was formed
in August 2001 to exploit acoustic detection technology developed at the
University of Cambridge. The
Company has achieved a major breakthrough in molecular detection by
developing acoustic technology that can detect the sounds that molecular
bonds make when they break. This technology has
significant advantages over existing technologies: it
can sensitively, rapidly and economically detect analytes in complex
fluids such as serum without the need for the radio-, enzymatic or
fluorescent labeling of the analyte molecule used currently. It is
applicable to a wide range of markets including human and veterinary
diagnostics, drug discovery, life sciences research, bioterrorism, food
testing and environmental monitoring and in process monitoring of
production processes. To date the Company has raised seed finance of £3.2
million from Abingworth Management Ltd
and the University of Cambridge. Akubio was the first company to receive
funds from the Cambridge University Challenge Fund.
Based
in 10,300 sq ft facilities on the Science Park, Cambridge UK, Akubio
employs 20 people.
Further
information at www.akubio.com
Akubio
Ltd
Media Enquiries
Dr
John Pritchard
CEO
Sue Charles, Northbank Communications
Tel:
+44 (0)1223 225 335
Tel: +44 (0)20 7321 3872
Email:
jpritchard@akubio.com
s.charles@northbankcommunications.com
