SAN DIEGO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 11, 2014) - Genelux Corporation, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that develops vaccinia virus-based cancer therapeutics and diagnostics, announced today that, after a lengthy executive search process, its Board of Directors has appointed John D. Prunty, Chief Financial Officer, effective February 10, 2014.
"The appointment of John Prunty to lead Genelux Corporation's finance and business strategy is fundamental to achieving a strong financial base as our company enters later stage clinical trials, and to building maximum value for our shareholders," said Dr. Aladar Szalay, Founder, Chairman and CEO. "John has over 20 years of experience in corporate finance and strategic planning, and a proven track record in leading biotechnology and diagnostics companies through product approval and commercialization, from private to public, creating tremendous value along the way. He will be a key addition to the Genelux team."
Prior to joining Genelux Corporation, Mr. Prunty served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary of Optimer Pharmaceuticals, a San Diego based biotech focused on anti-infective development, from 2006 until mid 2012. At Optimer, he successfully led the company's IPO and conducted a series of subsequent financings totaling $260 million. Mr. Prunty assisted in leading the company from clinical development through product approval and commercialization, while growing the organization from 30 to 270 employees.
Before his tenure at Optimer, Mr. Prunty held several key positions with Maxim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, from 2000 to 2006, including Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance, and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Prunty served as Senior Director of Finance and Corporate Controller at Gen-Probe Incorporated, a manufacturer of nucleic acid tests that diagnose human diseases, from 1997 to 2000. He also held senior management positions at I-Bus, which was a division of Maxwell Technologies, Inc., an electronic device company. Mr. Prunty began his career as an auditor at Ernst & Young LLP, an accounting firm, where he spent seven years in public accounting. He is a certified public accountant and received a B.B.A. from the University of San Diego and an M.S. in management from San Diego State University.
About Genelux Corporation
Headquartered in San Diego, California, Genelux Corporation is a privately held, clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to fundamentally changing the way in which cancer is diagnosed and treated. The company has developed a proprietary oncolytic vaccinia virus-based technology platform that can be engineered to insert specific therapeutic genes for delivery and amplification of anti-cancer proteins and RNA into cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The company is also incorporating advanced diagnostic deep-tissue imaging technologies into its viral platform to enable highly specific visualization of tumors and circulating cancer cells. GL-ONC1, the company's lead oncology product candidate, is an attenuated vaccinia virus (Lister strain) that is currently under evaluation in multiple Phase I-II clinical trials in the US and Europe. For more information please visit http://www.genelux.com.
Genelux Forward Looking Statement
Statements made about Genelux Corporation, other than statements of historical fact, reflect Management's current beliefs and assumptions founded on the data and information currently available to us. Statements of the company's progress, results, timing of pre-clinical and clinical trials and projections for product pipelines are examples of forward-looking statements. By definition, such undertakings involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and are subject to a number of such factors that could cause actual results to differ substantially from statements made, including but not limited to: risks associated with the success of clinical trials, research and development programs, regulatory approval processes for clinical trials, competitive technologies and products, patents, inception and/or continuation of corporate and other strategic partnerships and the need for additional funding or financing.
Contact Information:
Richard Roose
RCI Partners
415-202-4445
rick.roose@rci-partners.com