Veracyte Appoints Mark Spring as Chief Financial Officer

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Veracyte, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company pioneering the emerging field of molecular cytology, today announced the appointment of Mark Spring as chief financial officer.

"We are delighted that Mark Spring has joined the Veracyte team," said Bonnie Anderson, Veracyte's cofounder and chief executive officer. "His extensive experience as a CFO and senior finance leader in both public and private healthcare companies will be key as we execute against our vision of developing and commercializing molecular cytology tests that enable physicians to make more informed treatment decisions that improve patient care and provide cost savings to the healthcare system."

Mr. Spring has more than 17 years of experience in senior finance roles with leading healthcare companies. He previously served as senior vice president and CFO for Promethius Laboratories Inc., a privately held diagnostic and specialty pharmaceutical company with over $500 million in revenues, which was sold to Nestle S.A. in 2011. Prior to that, he was senior vice president and CFO at Hyperion Therapeutics, Inc. and was also vice president of finance and controller at MedImmune, which was acquired by AstraZeneca in 2007. Mr. Spring has also held senior finance roles with Baxter International, Dade Behring, Caremark International Inc. and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

"I am extremely pleased to join the top-notch management team of this exciting company," said Mr. Spring of Veracyte. "In just three years, Veracyte has successfully developed and launched its first product – the Afirma® Thyroid FNA Analysis, for improved thyroid nodule diagnosis. In the first year of commercialization, the Veracyte team has achieved Medicare coverage and established a global co-promotion partnership with Genzyme, one of the world's leading biotechnology companies. I'm excited to support the company's continued commercial growth and the development of additional genomic tests that serve unmet clinical needs in other disease areas."

About the Afirma Thyroid FNA Analysis
Veracyte's Afirma Thyroid FNA Analysis is designed to improve thyroid nodule diagnosis. This novel solution combines expert cytopathology assessment of thyroid nodule fine needle aspiration (FNA) samples with the company's Afirma Gene Expression Classifier, a genomic test used to clarify inconclusive results as benign or suspicious for cancer, and thus help patients avoid unnecessary surgery if their nodules are actually benign. Two independent clinical studies have shown that the Afirma Gene Expression Classifier can reclassify patients with indeterminate thyroid FNA results as "benign" with the same degree of accuracy as a benign cytopathology diagnosis.

Thyroid cancer is the fastest-growing cancer in the U.S., with an estimated 56,460 new cases expected in 2012, according to the American Cancer Society. An estimated 450,000 thyroid nodule fine needle aspirations (FNAs) – a minimally invasive procedure to extract suspicious cells for examination under a microscope – are performed in the U.S. each year to rule out cancer. Thyroid nodule FNAs are challenging to interpret, however, producing ambiguous results in up to 30 percent of cases. Current guidelines recommend that most of these patients undergo thyroid resection for a definitive diagnosis, given that thyroid cancer is highly treatable. Post-surgical results, however, show that only 20-30 percent of these patients have cancer.

About Veracyte
Veracyte, Inc., based in South San Francisco, Calif., is pioneering the emerging field of molecular cytology, applying molecular biomarkers to cytology samples in order to improve disease diagnosis by clarifying indeterminate results obtained from current methods. The company aims to enable doctors to make more informed treatment decisions that improve patient care and provide cost savings to the healthcare system. The company utilizes rigorous science and an extensive, multicenter clinical program throughout discovery and development. Veracyte's first product – the Afirma Thyroid FNA Analysis – combines expert cytopathology assessment with the Afirma Gene Expression Classifier, a genomic test that clarifies inconclusive thyroid nodule results as benign or suspicious for cancer. The company is currently in the early biomarker discovery phase for lung cancer and interstitial lung diseases. Veracyte is privately held and funded by Domain Associates, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TPG Biotech and Versant Ventures. For more information, visit www.veracyte.com.

SOURCE Veracyte, Inc.