BioMarker Strategies Names Jerry Parrott President and Chief Executive Officer

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--BioMarker Strategies today announced the appointment of Jerry Parrott as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, effective immediately. Mr. Parrott will report to the Company's Board of Directors, which will continue to be led by Chairman Jack Davis, a co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of Dianon Systems.

Mr. Parrott served Human Genome Sciences, Inc. as Vice President, Corporate Communications and Public Policy from 2001 until the acquisition of HGS by GlaxoSmithKline in 2012. Since 2006, he has also served as Chairman and President of Maryland Health Care Product Development Corporation, a nonprofit venture capital fund committed to helping health care products companies grow and succeed in Maryland. He formerly held senior public policy, corporate affairs, and other positions with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, American Hospital Supply Corporation and Walgreen Company.

"Jerry Parrott is a well-respected biotechnology industry executive in Maryland and a seasoned business leader with more than 30 years of experience providing strategic direction to a wide range of healthcare companies," said Mr. Davis. "I have great confidence in his ability to lead BioMarker Strategies and ensure that our novel cancer diagnostic platform reaches its full potential to support the selection of targeted therapies for individual cancer patients."

"The treatment of cancer has shifted in recent years from traditional cytotoxic agents to more molecularly targeted therapies that may hold the promise of greater safety and efficacy," said Mr. Parrott. "BioMarker Strategies has developed a unique cancer diagnostic platform called SnapPath® that uses fresh solid tumor biopsy samples to enable the creation of pathway-based companion diagnostic assays that will better support the choice of which cancer patients are most likely to benefit from which targeted therapy or combination of therapies. I believe this new technology will ultimately speed the advance of personalized medicine for the treatment of solid tumors."

The Company also announced that Dr. Douglas Clark, Founder, has stepped down as CEO to resume his academic medical career as a pathologist. Dr. Clark will remain a Director and scientific advisor to the Company.

As Principal of Policy Advocates Inc. prior to joining HGS, Mr. Parrott's clients included HGS, American Type Culture Collection, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Ciba-Geigy/Novartis, Diversa, Exogen, Genentech, HealthCare Ventures, Hoffmann-La Roche, Western Digital, Wyeth and others. During this period, he helped take public 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, subsequently acquired by Johnson & Johnson, and InforMax, subsequently acquired by Invitrogen. He has helped launch important therapeutic products in immunology, oncology, infectious disease and pain relief, and has helped bring two prescription products over the counter.

Mr. Parrott is a Director of Noxilizer Inc., MdBio, and the Tech Council of Maryland, and Senior Advisor to the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board. He formerly served as Chair of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) Committee on Outreach and Alliance Development, Chair of the Rx Partners health care reform coalition, Founding Director of BioHealth Innovation, Founding Trustee of the Foundation for Genetic Medicine, and Trustee of the Committee for Economic Development. He received his B.A. from the University of South Florida and attended graduate school as a University Fellow at Northwestern University.

About BioMarker Strategies

BioMarker Strategies has developed its novel SnapPath® live tumor cell processing system to generate PathMAP™ profiles of solid tumors to promote improved cancer drug development and better inform selection of targeted therapies for cancer patients. PathMAP™ profiles are phosphoprotein-based, phenotypic profiles derived from ex vivo exposure of fresh solid tumor samples to targeted therapies in the SnapPath® device. These functional profiles provide information about the activated signal transduction network of live tumor cells that are not possible using static, traditional biomarkers from dead, fixed tumor tissue. The Company recently published data from its preclinical and clinical collaboration in advanced melanoma in PlosOne. The Company is located at the Johns Hopkins Science + Technology Park in Baltimore. The development of the SnapPath® system was supported with significant funding from the National Cancer Institute. For more information about BioMarker Strategies, please refer to www.biomarkerstrategies.com.

Forward Looking Statement

This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995) that inherently involve risk and uncertainties. BioMarker Strategies generally uses words such as "believe," "may," "could," "will," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," and similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. One should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. BioMarker Strategies' actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements for many unforeseen factors. Although BioMarker Strategies believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, they relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made, and future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these expectations. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the Company's expectations, except as required by law.

Contacts

BioMarker Strategies
Jerry Parrott, 410-522-1008
[email protected]