Angiotech Announces Changes to Management and Board of Directors

VANCOUVER, Oct. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ - Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Angiotech") announced today that its shareholders and Board of Directors have approved changes to the Company's executive management team and Board of Directors.

Effective October 8, Thomas Bailey and Angiotech mutually agreed that Mr. Bailey would transition from his current role as President and CEO of Angiotech, and into a Board role. As of that same date, at the Company's Annual General Meeting, Mr. Bailey was elected by the Company's shareholders to serve on Angiotech's Board of Directors. In addition, Kurt Cellar, Jeffrey Goldberg, Don Casey, Bradley Karro and Omar Vaishnavi were also re-elected to the Board of Directors.

Mr. Victor Diaz, who has been named President and Chief Operating Officer, and Ms. Tammy Neske, Chief Business Officer, will report to the Board of Directors, and their respective roles and responsibilities will remain generally unchanged. Mr. Jay Dent will continue to serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

"We would like to offer thanks, on behalf of the Board and our shareholders, to Tom for his dedication and his many significant contributions during his 10 years with Angiotech," said Kurt Cellar and Jeffrey Goldberg, Co-Chairs of Angiotech's Board of Directors. "Tom's determination and experience were critical in enabling the Company to navigate many challenges, and the hard work and operating acumen of Tom and his team set the stage for Angiotech's successful return to growth and profitability during the past two years. We look forward to continuing our work together as active members of the Board of Directors."

"I would like to offer my sincere personal thanks to our shareholders, our Board, and most importantly to our dedicated executive team and employees, who have offered me the great privilege of working with them, and who have stood with me through both challenges and successes," said Mr. Bailey.  "Our recent results, and the returns we've delivered to shareholders, have been due to a unique and highly cohesive team effort among our Board, management and employees, and I very much look forward to contributing to Angiotech's continued success as a member of our Board of Directors."

Subsequent to the divestiture of its Interventional Products Business to Argon Medical this past spring, Angiotech changed the name of its operating business to Surgical Specialties Corporation. Surgical Specialties Corporation develops, manufactures and markets specialized surgical instruments, for its own brands as well as for selected private label and OEM customers. Surgical Specialties offers one of the most comprehensive portfolios of surgical blades, needles and sutures available for the specialty surgery market, and has trusted customer relationships and partnerships in the dental, ophthalmic, plastic surgery, dermatology, orthopedics, urology, microsurgery and trauma specialties.

Forward Looking Statements 

Statements contained in this press release that are not based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "believes," "may," "plans," "will," "estimates," "continues," "anticipates," "intends," "expects" and similar expressions, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable U.S. and Canadian securities laws. All such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements may involve, but are not limited to, comments with respect to our objectives and priorities in 2013 and beyond, our strategies or future actions, our targets, expectations for our financial condition and the results of, or outlook for, our operations, research and development and product development. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Many such known risks, uncertainties and other factors are taken into account as part of our assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements and include, among others, the following: general economic and business conditions in the United States, Canada and the other regions in which we operate; market demand; competition; technological changes that could impact our existing products or our ability to develop and commercialize future products; governmental legislation and regulations and changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental legislation and regulations; availability of financial reimbursement coverage from governmental and third-party payers for products and related treatments; adverse results or unexpected delays in pre-clinical and clinical product development processes; adverse findings related to the safety and/or efficacy of our products or products sold by our partners; decisions, and the timing of decisions, made by health regulatory agencies regarding approval of our technology and products; the requirement for funding to conduct research and development, to expand manufacturing and commercialization activities; and any other factors that may affect our performance. In addition, our business is subject to certain operating risks that may cause any results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release to differ materially from our actual results. These operating risks include: our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell our products; changes in our business strategy or development plans; our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; our ability to successfully complete pre-clinical and clinical development of our products; our failure to obtain patent protection for discoveries; loss of patent protection resulting from third-party challenges to our patents; commercialization limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; our ability to obtain rights to technology from licensors; liability for patent claims and other claims asserted against us; our ability to obtain and enforce timely patent and other intellectual property protection for our technology and products; the ability to enter into, and to maintain, corporate alliances relating to the development and commercialization of our technology and products; market acceptance of our technology and products; the availability of capital to finance our activities; our ability to service our debt obligations; or any other factors. Given these uncertainties, assumptions and risk factors, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release to reflect future results, events or developments.

©2013 Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 

SOURCE Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc.