Pacific Biometrics, Inc., a leader in highly specialized lab processes and research services since 1989 supporting clinical trial research by pharmaceutical and diagnostics manufacturers, announced stockholder approval of all three measures put forth at the company’s Annual Meeting today, Friday, December 18.
A majority vote was achieved December 14 approving a name change for the company to Pacific Biomarkers, Inc., in order to reflect emphasis on this aspect of the business which has come to dominate the company’s activity.
As CEO of PBME Ron Helm said, the new name “more accurately reflects both our current and historical strengths”.
Helm continued to explain the name change, saying that the “term ‘biomarker’ is now much more widely known and is broadly understood to have a key role in drug development. Therefore, the new name accurately positions us as a specialty laboratory provider for contemporary drug development services.”
Stockholders also re-elected the standing Board of Directors:
• Ronald R. Helm
• Mario R. Ehlers
• Paul G. Kanan
• Richard W. Palfreyman
• Curtis J. Scheel
• Stanley L. Schloz
• Kenneth R. Waters
Stockholders also ratified the selection of PMB Helin Donovan, LLP by the Audit Committee as the company’s auditors for the 2010 fiscal year, continuing a relationship between the two companies which began in 2007.
The company’s name change will not go into effect until a Certificate of Amendment to the company’s Certificate of Incorporation can be filed with the Secretary of State of Delaware. Additionally, a review process will be required via the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). FINRA will also set a new ticker symbol for the common stock during the review process.
Helm pointed out the track record of PBME providing “high-quality esoteric assay services for clinical drug and diagnostic product development”, noting that the vast majority of these services can be referenced by the term biomarker. Helm went on to explain that the term biomarker “refers to any biological parameter that can be measured in patient samples and that provides specific information about the effects of a particular drug”.
Helm suggested that, in the past five years, the company had become aware of an “accelerating trend towards the use of biomarkers in all areas of drug development”, and that this trend would lead to what he called “truly personalized medicine”.
Helm disclosed that the company’s strategy would be aimed at focusing on this type of testing, even more so than when the PBME was founded, to capture “an even greater share of this rapidly growing market”.
Helm went on to say that aggressive expansion of service offerings to “include custom assay services for our pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients” was key to the overall business strategy going forward.
In addition, Helm noted, providing “assay development services for novel biomarkers, as well as custom assay services for immunogenicity testing, cell based assay testing and multiplex testing” would complement existing biomarker services nicely, bringing in even better profits for the company’s shareholders.
Helm, clearly pleased with the success of the Annual Meeting and the positive disposition of the company’s shareholders, concluded by saying that he anticipated the “enhanced clinical biomarker services will help diversify our client base, because these services apply to therapeutic areas beyond our traditional specialty areas, and there is also a growing emphasis on biologic drugs”.
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