Applied Proteomics Appoints Peter Klemm as CEO Following Series B Financing of $22.5 Million

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Applied Proteomics Inc. (API), powering the proteome to transform diagnostics, announced today the appointment of veteran diagnostic developer, Peter Klemm, Ph.D., as chief executive officer.  API also announced the move of the corporate headquarters to San Diego.  Prior to the move, API secured a $22.5 million Series B financing from Domain Associates, Vulcan Capital and returning angel investors.  In conjunction with the financing, James C. Blair, Ph.D. founding partner at Domain, joined the Company's board of directors. The financing will support the creation of new diagnostics based on API's proprietary proteomic platform solution to significantly improve medical care and therapeutic development. 

"Improving healthcare starts with improving diagnostics. Better diagnostics provide better information about the patient's health state and treatment response and that in turn leads to the delivery of more personalized medical care and the development of better therapies," said David Agus, M.D., co-founder of API and director of the USC Center for Applied Molecular Medicine and the USC Westside Cancer Center. "API has significantly advanced the technology to look at the whole proteome instead of a single protein biomarker and have a complete picture of a patient's status to make the best healthcare decisions."

"For the first time, we can look at all the proteins in the body with remarkable specificity and sensitivity and use proteomic technology to create superior diagnostics that can 'listen to the conversation of the body,'" stated Daniel Hillis, co-founder of API and chairman and CTO of Applied Minds. "Dr. Klemm brings years of experience and success in diagnostic development, and his addition to the leadership team comes at a key time to advance API's mission to create transformative proteome-based diagnostics that will significantly improve medical diagnosis and treatments."

Through technological innovation and novel approaches, API has solved the proteomics problem by rapidly collecting, processing, and analyzing data and identifying actionable medical information. With unique mass spectrometry-based systems control and computational expertise, API's proteomics platform solution can accurately, reproducibly, and efficiently take "snapshots" of a patient's proteome and provide a physiological picture of the proteins actually expressed in the body. Because proteins perform most cellular functions and are the targets of most drugs and therapies, they are the most powerful source of information to know the health status of the patient. API is advancing the application of proteomics to the development of diagnostics, companion diagnostics, and personalized medicine applications to power better medical decisions and care.

"In addition to API's industry-leading proteomics platform, we have a great foundation from our investors, including a deep commitment from our returning angels, a depth of experience from Domain and Dr. Jim Blair, and an innovation community with Vulcan Ventures," said Dr. Klemm, CEO of API. "We are motivated to quickly advance the development of new proteome-based diagnostics that will significantly improve the way medical decisions are made and how patients are diagnosed and treated."

Dr. Klemm has extensive experience in building markets for novel high-value diagnostic tests. Dr. Klemm currently serves as chairman of Pathwork Diagnostics and previously served as CEO and president of Predictive Biosciences and CEO of GeneOhm Sciences, which he joined in 2002 and was acquired by Becton Dickinson. Prior to GeneOhm Sciences, he was CEO of JOMED, senior vice president of research and development of Gruenenthal GmbH, and senior scientist at Aventis. Dr. Klemm joins John E. Blume, Ph.D., who has been CSO at Applied Proteomics since 2008.

About Applied Proteomics Inc.

Applied Proteomics Inc. (API) is advancing the application of proteomics to the development of diagnostics, companion diagnostics, and personalized medicine applications to power better medical decisions and care. API has developed a proteomics platform solution to make protein-based biomarker discovery possible as a replicable, industrial application ready to be applied to health diagnostic problems. API's platform combines improved instrumentation, faster computing and extensive genome annotations with regimented standard operating procedures, extensive quality controls, and documented processes spanning hundreds of steps from sample collection to processing through informatics. API is currently advancing several internal diagnostic development programs. API is headquartered in San Diego, CA.  For more information, please visit http://www.appliedproteomics.com. 

SOURCE Applied Proteomics Inc.