Xenogenics Elects Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia And Dr. Scott Brassfield To Its Board Of Directors

SAN DIEGO (BW HealthWire) - Exten Industries Inc. announced today it has made organizational changes in its majority-owned subsidiary, Xenogenics Corp., the developer of the patent-pending Sybiol(R) synthetic bio-liver.

Gregory F. Szabo was elected chairman and chief executive officer, Dr. Donald Cramer and W. Gerald Newmin will remain on the board, and two new directors were elected, Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia and Dr. T. Scott Brassfield. According to Newmin, chairman and CEO of Exten, "These changes should significantly strengthen the company's managerial and technical capability."

Bhatia, MD, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Bioengineering at University of California San Diego in La Jolla. She was a researcher at the Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgical Research Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston from 1991-1997. Her expertise and experience is in biotechnology, pharmaceutical drug development, medical devices and biomedical engineering, with a specialty in metabolic function of hepatocytes, a subject on which she has authored and co-authored numerous scientific papers.

She received her Ph.D. in Medical Engineering from the Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, her MD degree from Harvard Medical School and her MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. She holds numerous patents for clinical and technological applications.

Brassfield, MD, an investor in Xenogenics through Kestrel Equity Partners Ltd. and a practicing physician in Colorado since 1980, has invested in and served as an advisor to or member of several medical, technical and cultural Boards of Directors. Brassfield holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from Princeton University, an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine, and has completed a family practice residency at University of California, Irvine. Brassfield hopes to use his technical and medical experience and contacts in the growth company investing community to help Xenogenics Corp. achieve its goal of bringing to market an affordable, clinically effective extra-corporeal liver assist device.

The liver-assist device is intended for use before and after transplant surgery, or as an artificial liver for transplant candidates when no donor organ is available, or to assist patients with liver trauma or chronic liver disease. It is designed to perform a function for the liver similar to the function dialysis performs for kidneys. The proprietary Sybiol(R) artificial liver device will utilize liver cells to provide sustained removal of human blood toxins outside the liver.

For more information, contact Exten Industries Inc./Xenogenics Corp. at 9620 Chesapeake Dr., Suite 201, San Diego, CA 92123-1324, (858) 496-0173 or email extixeno@aol.com. Exten's Web site address is http://www.exten.com/.

Forward-looking statements in this press release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Investors are cautioned that statements in this press release that are not strictly historical statements, including, without limitation, management's plans and objectives for future operations and management's assessment of market factors, constitute forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties which include, without limitation, product plans and performance, risks associated with competition and competitive pricing pressures, and other risks detailed in the company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Annual Report, Quarterly Report and other periodic filings, copies of which may be accessed through the SEC's Web site at http://www.sec.gov/. The company disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Contact: Exten Industries Inc. Barbara Corbett (858) 496-0173.

Copyright © 2000 At Home Corporation.

This article posted July 28, 2000.