UPPSALA, Sweden, July 19, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biacore International AB (Biacore) (Stockholmsborsen:BCOR) today announced that an agreement has been made between the Board of Biacore International AB and Dr. Ulf Jonsson to the effect that Ulf Jonsson will leave his position as President and CEO with immediate effect. He also resigns from the Board of Directors.
Pending permission from the Companies Registration Office, the Board has appointed Mr. Erik Wallden, at present Executive Vice President and Head of marketing and business development, new President and CEO of Biacore International AB. This permission is needed due to the residency requirements in the Swedish Companies Act. However, pending such possible permission, Erik Wallden will assume the obligations of a President in his capacity as Executive Vice President.
Mr. Lars-Goran Andren, Chairman of Biacore International AB, says: "Ulf Jonsson has made an exceedingly important contribution to Biacore's development since the Company was founded. We owe him sincere thanks for his devoted efforts to make Biacore the global leader in SPR technology. At the moment, however, we believe that the Company would benefit from additional commercial focus, and that resources should be redirected accordingly. With his extensive commercial experience from the international Life Science Industry, we believe Erik Wallden has the right background to achieve these ambitions and we wish him great success in his new task."
About Biacore
Biacore is a global market leader in Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technology based systems with its own sales operations in the U.S., across Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. A strong patent portfolio protects Biacore's SPR technology, which gives unique real- time insights into biomolecular interactions. Target groups for the Company's products consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world. Biacore is focusing on drug discovery and development as its prime areas for future growth. The Company currently has seven systems on the market, the most important of which are: Biacore(R)S51 for applications downstream of high-throughput screening (HTS) including rapid characterization of HTS hits and comprehensive pre-clinical evaluation of lead compounds, Biacore(r)3000, which offers flexibility in key life science research and drug discovery applications upstream of HTS, and Biacore(r)C which is specifically designed for compliant concentration analysis of biopharmaceuticals in GLP/GMP applications. A new SPR array system, which will provide higher information content, is expected to reach the market in 2004.
Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the Company is listed on Stockholmsborsen. In 2003 the Company had sales of SEK 515.5 million and an operating income of SEK 29.5 million.
Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com
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