Cannasat Therapeutics Announces New Chief Executive Officer: Anthony J. Giovinazzo, M.B.A., C.Dir.
Marketwire, November 16, 2009
TORONTO - Cannasat Therapeutics Inc. ("Cannasat") (TSX-V: CTH) announced today that Anthony J. Giovinazzo has been appointed to succeed David Hill as Chief Executive Officer, and joins the Company as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Giovinazzo is an executive with 16 years of international biopharmaceutical experience in drug development for treatment of central nervous system diseases (Central Nervous System "CNS"). Mr. Hill will continue with the company as Vice Chairman and will become an advisor to Mr. Giovinazzo.
"We are delighted that Anthony has agreed to join Cannasat and bring his extensive expertise to propel the company in its next phase of growth as a CNS clinical development specialty pharmaceutical company," said Dr. David Pattenden, Chairman of the Board. "In addition, the Board and I wish to thank David Hill for his extraordinary efforts and dedication over the last 5 years as co-founder and CEO, and look forward to his continued involvement in the Company as Vice Chairman and key advisor to Anthony."
"The opportunity to build on the foundation established by Cannasat is exciting," said Mr. Giovinazzo. "Cannasat's intellectual property and drug candidates have considerable potential in neuropathic pain associated with Multiple Sclerosis and other related conditions. My plan is to build the company by assembling a portfolio of two, or possibly three, additional drug candidates that will add substantial value to Cannasat and its shareholders, within the broader CNS area."
"I am very pleased that Anthony will be leading the team going forward," stated Mr. Hill. "I am confident that his proven ability to manage clinical development programs, combined with his experience negotiating licensing agreements, will help us in our current discussions with potential Pharma partners. I also believe that his strong track record of raising capital for Pharma drug candidates will help us expand our investor base and allow us to continue to build a successful and valuable company."
Effective today, the Corporation granted Mr. Giovinazzo stock options to acquire 500,000 shares in the capital of the Corporation. The stock options will be granted at an exercise price equal to $0.09 per share and with an expiry of 5 years.
About Anthony J. Giovinazzo
Mr. Giovinazzo has a total of 31 years of international business experience, of which the last 16 years have been in the CNS field. His experience ranges from the investment side as the former President of the Neuroscience Partners Fund, a limited partnership investing in CNS companies primarily in the US and Canada, and subsequently, as the CEO of several companies. Mr. Giovinazzo has extensive experience in licensing drug candidates both in-bound and out-bound, as well as mergers and acquisitions, the management of clinical development, and building small execution focused teams. In December 2005, he completed the sale of Cita NeuroPharmaceuticals Inc. to Vernalis Plc (LSE: VER), at a substantial above average valuation increase. He had built Cita over the period from September 2002 to December 2005, from a single early stage drug candidate, incubated within Queen's University, to an independent CNS company with three mid to late stage drug candidates. His internationally experienced management team at Cita have recently been written up in Nature Biotechnology, as a good example of how to manage value creation with a small highly focussed and execution oriented team. Before joining Cannasat, Mr. Giovinazzo was the CEO of Cervelo Pharmaceuticals Inc., a venture backed company that raised US $36 million in October 2007. Mr. Giovinazzo is one of the few CEO's in the industry that holds the Chartered Directors designation, which is granted jointly by the Conference Board of Canada and the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University. He has also completed the Leadership and Strategy in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech, program, at the Harvard Business School.
About Cannasat Therapeutics
Cannasat is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing products to treat neurological disorders such as neuropathic pain. Cannasat's lead product is Relivar, which is targeted at neuropathic pain. Over the next 12 months Cannasat plans to advance our drug candidates in further clinical testing and is in early discussions towards possible agreements with select Pharma partners. Pharma collaborations will create a pathway towards the future commercialization, as well as provide important new investment to develop a pipeline of additional CNS/neurology product candidates. More information about Cannasat (CTH: TSXV) is available at www.cannasat.com.