PHILADELPHIA, PA--(Marketwired - March 08, 2016) - Medgenics, Inc. (NYSE MKT: MDGN) today announced the appointment of Rick Couch, Ph.D., as Vice President of Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (CMC). In this role, Dr. Couch will be a key member in setting the strategy and tactics of technical product development as well as leading and managing all CMC activities. Dr. Couch has held positions of increasing responsibility in the Pharmaceutical Sciences, most recently at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where his teams were responsible for the Pharmaceutical Development of several products including Carbatrol®, Adderall XR®, Intuniv® and SHP465. Prior to that he started the Pharmaceutical Technology function in the Global Supply Chain at Shire, where his teams led the technical launch of several products including Fosrenol®, Lialda®, Daytrana®, Dynepo®, and Vyvanse®. He has built and led departments that consistently deliver exceptional performance, while adapting to organizational and portfolio changes. In 1992 he helped start a small company, called Pharmavene that merged with Shire in January of 1997 and became Shire Laboratories. Dr. Couch earned his B.S. in Pharmacy and Ph.D. at Ohio State University and is a registered Pharmacist.
"We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Rick to our team," said Mike Cola, President and Chief Executive Officer of Medgenics. "Rick brings to Medgenics a wealth of experience and a successful track record in developing products across multiple therapeutic areas. We look forward to the leadership and significant expertise that Rick will bring to Medgenics."
In connection with the appointment of Dr. Couch, the Compensation Committee of the Medgenics Board of Directors has granted him inducement awards consisting of stock options covering up to 200,000 shares of the Company's common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (Common Stock), at a per share exercise price of $4.42, representing the closing price of the Common Stock on the grant date, March 7, 2016. These options have a 10-year term, with one-third of the options vesting on the first anniversary of grant, one-third vesting on the second anniversary, and the final third vesting on the third anniversary of the grant date, subject to Dr. Couch's continuous service through each vesting date. The Compensation Committee of the Medgenics Board of Directors, which is comprised solely of independent directors, granted this award on February 16, 2016 pursuant to stand-alone award agreements outside of Medgenics' Stock Incentive Plan as inducements material to Dr. Couch's acceptance of his appointment to the company in accordance with Section 711 of the NYSE MKT Company Guide.
About Medgenics, Inc.
Medgenics is dedicated to unlocking the potential of genomic medicine to identify and treat patients with life-altering conditions. Its efforts, including its internal research and development and ongoing sponsored research and licensing agreements with a well-respected pediatric academic medical center, give Medgenics the ability to focus on the underlying genetic pathway of pediatric diseases with the goal of finding therapeutic solutions for subpopulations of both children and adults living with rare and other difficult-to-treat diseases. Medgenics is the developer of TARGT™ (Transduced Autologous Restorative Gene Therapy), a proprietary platform for the sustained production and delivery of therapeutic proteins, monoclonal antibodies and peptides in patients using ex vivo gene therapy and their own tissue for the treatment of rare and orphan diseases. For more information, visit the Company's website at www.medgenics.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which include all statements other than statements of historical fact, including (without limitation) those regarding the Company's financial position, its development and business strategy, its product candidates and the plans and objectives of management for future operations. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created by such laws. Forward-looking statements are sometimes identified by their use of the terms and phrases such as "estimate," "project," "intend," "forecast," "anticipate," "plan," "planning, "expect," "believe," "will," "will likely," "should," "could," "would," "may" or the negative of such terms and other comparable terminology. All such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Should any of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of the Company's assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ materially from those included within these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no undue reliance should be placed on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. As a result of these factors, the events described in the forward-looking statements contained in this release may not occur.
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