Saladax Recruits Top Talent as Commercial Introduction of MyCare™ Portfolio of Oncology Diagnostics Nears

BETHLEHEM, Pa., April 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Saladax Biomedical, Inc., a privately held company developing and commercializing novel diagnostic assays to achieve the promise of personalized medicine for new and existing therapeutics, today announced it has appointed Jonathan Mayo as Vice President of Sales for the U.S. market and Michael Duda as Vice President of Clinical Laboratory Operations. Both executives will report to Mark Myslinski, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

Michael Duda, recently a laboratory operations consultant to Saladax, has nearly 25 years of clinical laboratory experience supported by a strong background in analytical chemistry. Prior to his role as a consultant, Mr. Duda held several positions of increased responsibility at LabCorp where he served, most recently, as Vice President of LabCorp's Clinical Trials U.S. Operations and, prior to that, Managing Director of LabCorp's European Clinical Trials Laboratory Business located in Mechelen, Belgium in 1998. In this role, Mr. Duda built LabCorp's clinical trial laboratory from a concept into a fully functional commercial organization that he managed with success for over four years. Previously, Mr. Duda worked at Hoffmann La Roche as a chemist in the Drug Development department running and developing analytic assays.

"Quality and high service levels are key elements of success for any clinical laboratory organization and we are very pleased to have Michael onboard to ensure the highest quality of operations at Saladax Biomedical Laboratories," said Mark Myslinski. "Michael's strong grounding in analytical chemistry and broad experience in laboratory development, commercialization and management makes him well suited for this role."

Jonathan Mayo has over 20 years of commercial oncology, pathology and molecular laboratory experience and brings to Saladax extensive clinical sales expertise that is well suited to lead the field based introduction of Saladax's MyCare™ portfolio of oncology dosing assays. Prior to joining Saladax, Mr. Mayo led an award winning sales team at Agendia, a privately owned company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative products that improve the quality of life through personalized treatment. Previously, Mr. Mayo spent over ten years in roles of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Genetics and Impath, before its acquisition by Genzyme. Prior to Impath, Mr. Mayo held a variety of sales positions at companies such as US Labs, Spinetech, Oncotech, and United States Surgical Corporation.

"We are very excited to welcome Jonathan to Saladax and to have his leadership at the forefront of our U.S. sales launch," said Mark Myslinski. "Jonathan brings with him a wealth of experience and shares our passion for improving cancer patients' lives though novel approaches to oncology therapy."

Beginning on June 1, 2013, Saladax Biomedical Laboratories will offer testing services for their initial oncology dose management assay portfolio; MyPaclitaxel™, MyDocetaxel™ and
My5-FU™. The company's menu of testing services will be expanded by an additional ten oncology dose management assays as their development is completed. The MyCare technology platform offers automated, rapid, robust and cost-effective blood tests for patient-specific chemotherapy dose optimization. These tests enable a physician to determine the optimal treatment effectiveness/toxicity balance for each unique patient.

About Saladax Biomedical, Inc.

Saladax Biomedical develops novel diagnostic assays for the practical delivery of personalized medicine. Our proprietary line of MyCare™ assays improves the efficacy of existing drugs by optimizing the dose administered for each individual patient. The initial focus of Saladax is oncology, with a portfolio of 13 chemotherapy drug assays in various stages of development. The initial portfolio of three assays is currently offered to the oncology community in markets around the world. These tests will be available in the US through the Saladax Biomedical Laboratories in June 2013.

The company's MyCare technology platform is broad and flexible, enabling wide application in many therapeutic categories. This technology also enables Saladax to serve as a valuable partner to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in the development of companion diagnostics (CDx), addressing multiple risks and challenges encountered in drug development.

Headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Saladax was founded in 2004 and is ISO 13485:2003 certified.

SOURCE Saladax Biomedical, Inc.