Sangart Enhances Leadership Team Bringing Superior Depth of Expertise

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangart, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of oxygen-therapeutic agents, today announced three new appointments to its executive team. These additions continue Sangart's tradition of retaining some of the industry's most influential leaders, while adding to the depth of expertise that the company provides.

"Sangart believes the quality of our executives should echo the importance of our development programs, so we continue to invest in expanding our leadership team," said Brian O'Callaghan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sangart. "The recent addition of several key executives, coupled with the talent of our existing team, positions Sangart to bring important lifesaving treatments to market, including MP4OX, an investigational therapy for trauma patients, and MP4CO, which is currently in Phase 1b study for the treatment of sickle cell disease."

Sangart's recent leadership team additions include:

• Frank Booth, MA MSc BM BCh FACS, Chief Medical Officer – Dr. Booth was recently promoted to the role of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Booth has more than 20 years of experience as a trauma and critical care surgeon and as a clinical investigator. Prior to joining Sangart, he worked in clinical development roles at Novo Nordisk and at Eli Lilly & Company.
• Mary Rose Keller, Vice President of Clinical Operations – Ms. Keller will be responsible for the execution of all clinical programs, including sickle cell, trauma and future treatments at Sangart. She brings to the company more than 25 years of experience in clinical research and clinical trial execution and has been involved with numerous, successful regulatory submissions for companies such as Agouron, Pfizer and Shire Pharmaceuticals.
• Carmen Betancourt-Riche, MBA, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance – Ms. Betancourt-Riche oversees the design and execution of Sangart's global regulatory and quality assurance strategy and has more than 34 years of drug development experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Ms. Betancourt-Riche joins Sangart from BioMarin Pharmaceutical, where she served as Senior Advisor in Regulatory Research. Prior to this, Ms. Betancourt-Riche held senior regulatory roles at Cerexa, Coulter Pharmaceuticals and Genentech, as well as senior regulatory and quality roles at KaloBios Pharmaceuticals and VaxGen.

About Sangart
Sangart is a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing life-saving medicines specifically designed to enhance the perfusion and oxygenation of ischemic (oxygen deprived) tissues through targeted oxygen delivery. Based on more than a decade of research, Sangart has refined the pegylation of human hemoglobin to create a molecule, MP4, with the ability to carry oxygen through the circulatory system to prevent and treat ischemia, or carbon monoxide to prevent and reverse sickling and its consequences.

To learn more about Sangart, please visit the company's website at www.sangart.com.

SOURCE Sangart, Inc.