UPPSALA, Sweden, April 22, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Pyrosequencing AB (Stockholm: PYRO A) announced the following decisions were made at the Shareholder's Annual General Meeting held today.
The Board of Directors was re-elected for another term. The Board members are Bjorn Svedberg, Urban Jansson, Bjorn Odlander, Lars Gatenbeck, Mathias Uhlen, Bengt Samuelsson and Eugen Steiner. In addition, it was decided that total Board compensation would be SEK 1,170,000 ($112,901.66) to be divided among the members.
The Board members also decided that no dividend would be paid for the accounting year 2001.
At the meeting, it was decided that a global employee option program will be established. The program includes provisions for the distribution of options to present and future employees that entitle the option holder to acquire shares in the Company. No premium will be paid for the option. The strike price will be 110 percent of the market value of the share at the time that the option is granted. The complete program will be available on the Company's Web page at www.pyrosequencing.com from Wednesday, April 24, 2002.
In order to support the promises made in the option program, the Board was given the right to issue debentures with detachable warrants that would be in sufficient number to cover social fees and other similar expenses related to the program.
About Pyrosequencing AB
Pyrosequencing AB develops, manufactures and sells complete solutions for rapid applied genetic analysis based on its proprietary Pyrosequencingtm technology, a simple-to-use DNA sequencing technique. Pyrosequencing leads the global market in Applied Genomics with over 165 systems sold to major pharmaceutical and biotech companies and prestigious research institutions worldwide.
Pyrosequencing technology is broadly applicable for the analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and for the identification and quantification of short DNA sequences used in bacterial and viral typing. The Company's Molecular Diagnostics Business is establishing collaborations with industry leaders to identify new product opportunities in disease diagnosis, clinical prognosis and pharmacogenomics.
The Company's products include the bench-top PSQtm96, PSQtm96MA and PSQtmHS 96A Systems and a high-throughput 384-well system available through a Preferred Technology Program (PTPtm), all of which utilize proprietary software and reagent kits. Among Pyrosequencing's customers are AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Schering-Plough, the NIH, the CDC, the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, Yale University, the Karolinska Institute, Biogen, Oxagen, NASA and DuPont Agriculture. The Company's Web address is www.pyrosequencing.com.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," and "anticipate," among others. These forward- looking statements are based on Pyrosequencing's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Pyrosequencing notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward- looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, risks associated with management of growth and international operations (including the effects of currency fluctuations), variability of operating results, the commercial development of the DNA sequencing and genomics market, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics market, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy markets, competition, rapid or unexpected changes in technologies, fluctuations in demand for Pyrosequencing's products (including seasonal fluctuations), difficulties in successfully adapting the Company's products to integrated solutions and producing such products, and the Company's ability to identify and develop new products and to differentiate its products from competitors.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Pyrosequencing AB
Erik Wallden Theresa McNeely
President and CEO Sr. Director of Investor/Public
Relations
+46 70 326 98 70 +1 877 797 6767
erik.wallden@pyrosequencing.com theresa.mcneely@pyrosequencing.com
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