JAMESBURG, N.J., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Phytomedics Inc., a biopharmaceutical company merging health care and plant biotechnology to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize novel botanical therapeutics, announces the appointment of Ilan Kaufthal to its board of directors.
"We are very pleased to have a financial industry veteran of Ilan's stature join the Phytomedics board of directors," said Dr. Bertold Fridlender, President and CEO of Phytomedics. "Ilan's wide range of experience in both the investment banking and healthcare industries makes for another extremely valuable addition to the Phytomedics team."
Ilan Kaufthal is Vice Chairman of Investment Banking at Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc. He joined the firm in May 2000. Prior to joining Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc., he was with Schroders & Co. Inc. as Vice Chairman and head of mergers and acquisitions for 13 years. Preceding Schroders, he was with NL Industries, Inc., a firm in the chemicals and petroleum services businesses, as its Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Kaufthal also serves on the Board of Directors of United Retail Group, Inc., Cambrex Corporation, Russ Berrie & Company, Inc., Aveta Health Inc. and Edmunds.com. He also serves on the Trustee Council of The Jewish Museum, the Advisory Board of Gemini Israel Funds, and is a trustee of the Russell Berrie Foundation.
"Phytomedics is uniquely positioned to usher in an entire new way of developing pharmaceutical products, faster and cheaper than conventional synthetics or recombinants," said Ilan Kaufthal. "I very much look forward to joining the team as the company furthers the progression of this new paradigm within the global drug industry.
A core component of Phytomedics initiatives are botanical drugs, as recently defined by the U.S. FDA (http://www.fda.gov/cder/Offices/ODE_V_BRT/botanicalDrug.htm). Phytomedics sees this as a lucrative pharmaceutical segment that allows for the development of heterogenous plant derived products as ethical drugs in the U.S., and do it for reduced costs and time frames in comparison to new chemical entities (NCEs) or biologics, while retaining strong drug market exclusivity and appealing to expanding consumer desires for natural healthcare alternatives.
About Phytomedics Inc.
Phytomedics Inc. (www.phytomedics.com) uses a broad and innovative proprietary technology platform to discover, develop, manufacture, and commercialize novel, multi-component and multi-functional botanical therapeutics. Through state-of- the-art, proprietary approaches, Phytomedics' botanical therapeutics program reconnects plants and human health at a new level of technological sophistication. The Company has produced a pipeline of lead compounds, several of which are in clinical development, some as far as Phase IIb. Founded by Professor Ilya Raskin, Ph.D., its chief scientific officer, Phytomedics Inc. conducts most of its R&D at the Biotech Center of Rutgers University.
Phytomedics Inc.CONTACT: Ira S. Pastor, Executive Vice President, Phytomedics Inc.,+1-267-971-7725
Web site: http://www.phytomedics.com/
