Microbix Announces Board Changes

William J. Gastle retiring, Martin Marino nominated to become Independent Chairman

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQB: MBXBF, Microbix®), an award-winning life sciences innovator and exporter, announces that its founder and Executive Chairman William J. (Bill) Gastle has elected to retire effective October 15, 2020, and that Martin Marino has been nominated to become the Independent Chairman of its Board of Directors.

Bill Gastle, a virologist by training, founded Microbix in 1984 and took it public in 1990. The Company began by selling bacterial and cellular growth media to Canadian public health laboratories. It was soon entrusted with culturing the different bacteria and viruses of concern for those labs, and such expertise in turn led to contracts with infectious disease test developers around the world. Microbix salutes Bill’s creation of an irreplaceable Ontario-based reservoir of life sciences expertise, the importance of which is being amply demonstrated during the current pandemic. While Bill is retiring, we know that the honest, loyal, and caring culture that he built will continue to pervade Microbix, along with his passion for great science and innovation.

Martin Marino, who has served on the Microbix Board of Directors and as Chair of its Audit Committee since 2009, becomes independent Chairman. He is currently CEO and a Director of Aluvis International, Inc. and, among other roles, previously served as Global General Counsel of Merck Generics Group and VP International Corporate Development for Apotex Inc.

Vaughn Embro-Pantalony, Microbix’s former CEO and a Director since 2007, will be succeeding Martin as independent Audit Committee Chairman. Vaughn is currently Chairman of Soricimed Biopharma Inc., and Audit Committee Chairman of BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. He is a Chartered Director and Audit Committee Certified (McMaster University), and previously served as VP Finance and CFO of Novopharm Limited.

Bill Gastle provided the following comments, “I’d like to thank everyone at Microbix, as well as our many customers and collaborators worldwide, for their support and friendship over the years. Microbix is now by far the longest-standing Canadian-controlled and TSX-listed life sciences company, and we’re fiercely proud Ontarians. I know Microbix’s future is brighter than ever and look forward to remaining in close contact with our board, management, and staff.”

Everyone at Microbix wishes Bill and his wife Susan a happy, healthy, prosperous, and very well-earned retirement.

About Microbix Biosystems
Microbix develops proprietary biological and technology solutions for human health and well-being, with approximately 80 skilled employees and sales exceeding $1 million per month on average. It makes a wide range of critical biological materials for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs™) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure quality control of clinical diagnostic workflows. Microbix antigens enable the antibody tests of over 100 international diagnostics companies, while its QAPs are sold to clinical laboratory accreditation organizations, diagnostics companies, and clinical laboratories. Microbix QAPs are now available in over 20 countries, distributed by Alpha-Tec Systems, Inc., Diagnostic International Distribution S.p.A., Labquality Oy, The Medical Supply Company of Ireland, and R-Biopharm AG. Microbix is ISO 9001 and 13485 accredited, U.S. FDA registered, Australian TGA registered, Health Canada establishment licensed, and provides CE marked products.

Microbix also applies its biological expertise and infrastructure to develop other proprietary products and technologies, most notably Kinlytic® urokinase, a biologic thrombolytic drug used to treat blood clots. Microbix is publicly-traded on the TSX and OTCQB, and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes “forward-looking information,” as such term is defined in applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, discussion of the Board or its Directors, the history or prospects of the company, references to external collaborators and regulators or regulatory processes, Microbix’s business and business results, goals or outlook, risks associated with financial results and stability, development projects such as those referenced in its corporate presentation, regulatory compliance and approvals, sales to foreign jurisdictions, engineering and construction, production (including control over costs, quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery), foreign currency and exchange rates, maintaining adequate working capital and raising further capital on acceptable terms or at all, and other similar statements concerning anticipated future events, conditions or results that are not historical facts. These statements reflect management’s current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking information is inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Company’s control. Accordingly, actual future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and represent the Company’s judgement as of the date of this new release, and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking information.

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Copyright © 2020 Microbix Biosystems Inc.
Microbix®, Kinlytic®, and QAPs™ are trademarks of Microbix Biosystems Inc.