Chairman’s Address for ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited Annual General Meeting
Delivered by Mr Brett Heading, Chairman
MELBOURNE, Australia, and MENLO PARK, California U.S.A.
November 29, 2006
Guests, shareholders and friends of the company, welcome to the 2006 Annual General Meeting of ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals.
I said to you last year that “our company is on the cusp of serious success”, and I am delighted to stand here today to share with you an outstanding year of achievement that has positioned ChemGenex well to complete registration-directed trials of its lead agent and to realize the potential that the management team have patiently built over the past four years.
As our CEO, Professor Collier will explain in his presentation, the past year has seen the achievement of some major milestones including:
- The granting of Fast Track status and Orphan Drug status by the FDA for Ceflatonin in CML patients with the T315I mutation;
- The launch of a registration-directed phase 2/3 study of Ceflatonin, and the expansion of the Quinamed phase 2 study to include Prostate, Breast and Ovarian Cancers. We are delighted that Dr Ian Nisbet has joined us as Vice-President of Oncology to support our clinical development team internationally; and
- The completion of a A$15 million financing round which was supported by ABN-Amro Morgans. Obviously to have the support of a leading broking house is very beneficial in terms of the company’s profile and market understanding, and that support is much appreciated.
As I look back on the past four years since the appointment of a new management team and Board and the rebirth of the company there are many things we can be proud of. Over the past four years we have seen the company grow from a $25 million dollar company based in Melbourne to a NASDAQ-listed $100 million dollar international company that is on the brink of filing its lead compound with the FDA – the definitive statement of success for any therapeutic biotech company. I am very proud of the achievements we have made, and particularly appreciative of the efforts of Professor Greg Collier, Managing Director and CEO and his management team who have performed great feats from a limited capital base.
I am delighted to be able to share with you the news that Dr Denis Wade has agreed to join the Board of Directors of the company. Dr Wade will be well known to those of you familiar with the biotech and pharmaceutical industries as one of Australia’s leading clinical pharmacologists. Through his extensive experience with Johnson & Johnson and other companies, Dr Wade has successfully developed and commercialised therapeutics and grown early stage companies. I am sure you will join me in welcoming Dr Wade to the company and we look forward to benefiting from his substantial experience.
To ChemGenex shareholders, I say congratulations. Your patience has been appreciated, and I believe that the successes of our company are finally being recognized – both here in Australia and around the world. I am proud to have contributed to the successes of the past four years, and look forward for what promises to be an exciting year ahead.
I now call on Professor Collier to share with you an overview of the company and the progress anticipated over the next twelve months.
About ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals Limited (www.chemgenex.com)
ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical development company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by developing therapeutics in the areas of oncology, diabetes, obesity, and depression. ChemGenex harnesses the power of genomics for target discovery and validation, and in clinical trials to develop more individualized therapeutic outcomes. ChemGenex’s lead compound, Ceflatonin®, is currently in phase 2 clinical trials for leukemia and Quinamed® is in phase 2 clinical
trials for prostate, breast and ovarian cancers. The company has a significant portfolio of anti-cancer, diabetes, obesity and depression programs, several of which have been partnered with international pharmaceutical companies. ChemGenex currently trades on the Australian Stock Exchange under the symbol "CXS" and on NASDAQ under the symbol "CXSP".
Contacts
| Dr. Greg Collier (CEO and Managing Director) |
Australia +61 3 5227 2752
USA +1 650 474 9800X103 |
| Dr. Dennis Brown (President and Director) |
USA +1 650 474 9800X108
Australia +61 3 5227 2703 |
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements made herein that use the words “estimate,” “project,” “intend,” “expect,” “believe,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, risks or uncertainties associated with the development of the company’s technology, the ability to successfully market products in the clinical pipeline, the ability to advance promising therapeutics through clinical trials, the ability to establish our fully integrated technologies, the ability to enter into additional collaborations and strategic alliances and expand current collaborations and obtain milestone payments, the suitability of internally discovered genes for drug development, the ability of the company to meet its financial requirements, the ability of the company to protect its proprietary technology, potential limitations on the company’s technology, the market for the company’s products, government regulation in Australia and the United States, changes in tax and other laws, changes in competition and the loss of key personnel. These statements are based on our management’s current expectations and are subject to a number of uncertainties that could change the results described in the forward-looking statements. Investors should be aware that there are no assurances that results will not differ from those projected.
