Sangart, Inc. Announces Key Executive Appointments and Company Restructuring

SAN DIEGO, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Sangart, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of oxygen-therapeutic agents, today announced a company restructuring that includes the addition of four key leadership positions and a significant reduction in work force, primarily in the product manufacturing area. This restructuring reduces the company's burn rate and refocuses Sangart's business units on pursuing further clinical trials for its lead product, Hemospan(R).

"Sangart remains committed to developing a safe and effective oxygen-therapeutic agent," said Brian O'Callaghan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sangart. "Our recent successful Phase III clinical studies of Hemospan demonstrated very encouraging efficacy results for the prevention and treatment of hypotension in hip replacement procedures. These trials provide a platform from which to conduct the pivotal clinical studies that will be necessary to establish the clinical benefit of treating patients with Hemospan. The appointment of key executives and the decision to reduce our workforce, which was difficult but necessary, will enable us to focus our resources on these upcoming clinical trials."

As part of the restructuring, Sangart announced appointments for four new leadership positions:

    -- Howard Levy MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer -- Dr. Levy will assume
       overall responsibility for preclinical, clinical research, and research
       and development for Hemospan.  A critical care and pulmonary physician,
       Dr. Levy brings more than 20 years of experience both serving as a
       principal investigator at research institutions as well as leading
       clinical study development teams for pharmaceutical companies. Prior to
       Sangart, he was responsible for clinical research of the hemostasis
       platform at Novo Nordisk, Inc.

    -- Elias Nyberg, DVM, Vice President, Regulatory Affairs and Quality
       Assurance -- Dr. Nyberg is responsible for all international regulatory
       communications, as well as overseeing Quality Assurance for the
       company. Dr. Nyberg brings more than 20 years of experience working
       with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in regulatory affairs.
       Prior to Sangart, he served as Vice President, Regulatory Affairs at a
       Boston-based biopharmaceutical company and Senior Director for
       International Regulatory Affairs at BIOGEN.

    -- Clive Bertram, Head of European Commercialization -- Mr. Bertram is
       responsible for the company's European commercial operations and brings
       to Sangart a wealth of experience ranging from marketing and sales for
       larger pharmaceutical companies to advising small biotech companies on
       overall branding and commercialization. Prior to Sangart, he was Senior
       Director of International Marketing for Pharmion Ltd.

    -- Kristine Figueroa, CCP, Head of Human Resources -- Ms. Figueroa is
       responsible for all human resources for the company, including
       recruitment, benefits management and employee relations. Ms. Figueroa
       brings more than 13 years of experience in human resources. Prior to
       Sangart, Figueroa held human resource management positions for SGX
       Pharmaceuticals and Elan Pharmaceuticals.

About Sangart

Sangart, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on being the global scientific, clinical and commercial leader in oxygen-therapeutic agents, providing innovative products to patients in need. Sangart was founded based on technologies developed during more than two decades of research into the mechanisms of oxygen transport by cell-free hemoglobin solutions at the Letterman Army Institute of Research and University of California at San Diego. The discoveries arising from this research on the effective action of oxygen therapeutics have been patented and published in numerous scientific articles and form the basis for Sangart's technologies.

About Hemospan(R)

Sangart's lead product candidate, Hemospan(R) is an oxygen therapeutic product that is created using unique polyethylene glycol conjugation with human hemoglobin. Hemospan(R) was specifically designed to the optimal molecular size, viscosity, oxygen affinity and diffusion potential to target oxygen delivery to tissues at risk of oxygen deprivation based on experiments with artificial capillaries and in several different animal models. Extensive research and testing demonstrates that this approach optimizes oxygen delivery in the microcirculation while minimizing the side effects that plagued earlier generation products.

    To learn more about Sangart or Hemospan, please visit
http://www.sangart.com.

     Media Contact:
     Lisa Waters
     Edelman
     323-202-1051
     lisa.waters@edelman.com

SOURCE Sangart, Inc.

RELATED LINKS
http://www.sangart.com