BRISBANE, Calif., March 3, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CareDx, Inc. (Nasdaq:CDNA), a molecular diagnostics company focused on the development and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high value, non-invasive surveillance solutions for transplant recipients, today announced that William A. Hagstrom has been appointed to its Board of Directors, effective March 2, 2015. The Board now consists of 7 members.
Hagstrom brings extensive executive and board-level expertise in the field of diagnostics. In 2007, he secured financing for Crescendo Bioscience, a specialty diagnostics company focused on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases managed by rheumatologists. Serving as president and chief executive officer, he led the development of the company's product pipeline, operations infrastructure and commercial strategy. This included Vectra DA, a molecular diagnostic test to quantitatively assess rheumatoid arthritis disease activity, VectraView, a software system for RA population management and MyRA, a patient self-tracking application. The company was recognized on the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies, the Deloitte Fast 500, Red Herring 100 and by Frost & Sullivan for Best in Class Diagnostics. In 2014, Crescendo was acquired by Myriad Genetics as a wholly owned subsidiary. Hagstrom is currently the founder and CEO of Octave Bioscience, an early stage molecular diagnostics company focused on neurodegenerative diseases and conditions.
"With more than 30 years of experience, Bill stands as a leader in the healthcare industry. He is clearly an innovator in the field of diagnostic services and brings significant clinical development experience to CareDx. It is an honor to have him join our leadership team and share his invaluable perspective as we advance our strategy to transform long-term patient care by offering novel surveillance management solutions," said CareDx President and CEO Peter Maag.
"CareDx has a tremendous opportunity to emerge as a leader and innovator in clinical diagnostics and I am excited to be a part of their next exciting stage of growth," said Hagstrom. "I look forward to working with Peter and the dynamic CareDx team, as we share a passion for developing technology that directly benefits patients."
Prior to joining Crescendo Bioscience, Hagstrom was president of Alpha BioPartners, a strategic consulting firm for early stage biotechnology companies. While at Alpha, he co-founded Biolytx Pharmaceuticals and Altheus Therapuetics. He also served as interim CEO of Selexys Pharmaceuticals and Inoveon. Previous to this he was Chairman and CEO of UroCor, a specialty diagnostics company focused on urological cancers and complex diseases. Under his leadership, the company was an Inc. 500 company from 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1995, before becoming public in 1996. Previously, Hagstrom held executive positions at some of the largest multinational healthcare companies in the world, including Becton Dickinson, American Hospital Supply and Baxter International, where he served as vice president of the company's billion-dollar scientific products division.
Hagstrom has served on a variety of Boards over the last 15 years, including Prometheus Laboratories. He received a BS degree in business management from Bob Jones University, in Greenville, SC.
About CareDx
CareDx, Inc., based in Brisbane, California, is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value, non-invasive diagnostic surveillance solutions for transplant recipients. The Company has commercialized AlloMap®, a gene expression test that aids clinicians in identifying heart transplant recipients with stable graft function who have a low probability of moderate/severe acute cellular rejection. CareDx is also pursuing the development of additional products for post-transplant monitoring of other solid organs that use a variety of technologies, including next generation sequencing to detect donor-derived cell free DNA to monitor the health of organs after transplantation. The Company is currently investigating a research use only donor-derived cell free DNA-based test for heart transplant recipients. For more information, please visit: www.CareDxInc.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, but not limited to statements regarding the Company's expectations regarding future potential, development and commercial activities. All statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward looking statements, including CareDx's limited operating history and experience with developing new markets; risk relating to new partnerships and commercialization of those relationships, as well as other risks stated in CareDx's filings with the SEC located at www.sec.gov. CareDx disclaims any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.