AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands and HOLZGERLINGEN, Germany, Oct. 29, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Curetis B.V.¹ ("Curetis"), a developer of next-level molecular diagnostic solutions, today announced the composition of its supervisory board. William E. Rhodes, III, will be serving as chairman of Curetis' supervisory board (the "Board"), while Mario Crovetto will serve as chairman of Curetis' audit committee. Board members Dr. Werner Schaefer, Dr. Frank Muehlenbeck, Dr. Rudy Dekeyser, and Dr. Holger Reithinger have previously been members of the supervisory board of Curetis AG.

William Rhodes is a healthcare executive with more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry, and has been serving as an Operating Partner with Linden Capital Partners' investment team since January 2013. During his 14-year career at Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD, 1998-2012), Mr. Rhodes was an Executive Officer and held several senior leadership positions, including roles as Worldwide President of BD Biosciences (2009-2011). He was responsible for BD's corporate M&A activities as well as leading and growing operating companies. Furthermore, he founded BD Ventures, the venture capital arm of Becton, Dickinson and Co. Prior to Becton Dickinson, he held senior business development positions at Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer Inc. Mr. Rhodes also has served, among other roles, as President of The William-James Co. and has a track record of more than 20 successful acquisitions and divestitures. Mr. Rhodes holds a Master's degree in International Business from Seton Hall University and a BSc degree from Cornell University.

Mario Crovetto has been working as an independent advisor on M&A and corporate projects, notably integrations, divestments and financing since 2011. From 1999 to 2011, he was the CFO of Eurand NV (Specialty Pharmaceuticals), which he took public on NASDAQ in 2007. From 1990 to 1999, he held various senior business positions at Recordati (Pharma-ceuticals), including VP of Corporate Development, Division Manager of Diagnostics and CFO. Prior to that, he worked in various positions at Montedison (Speciality Chemicals), Digital Equipment Corporation, Mobil and SIAR (Management Consulting). Mr. Crovetto holds a BSc in Economics from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, and a Master's degree in Business Economics from Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.

"We are very happy to have won two leading, seasoned experts with tremendous experience in the diagnostics industry and capital markets for our Board," said Oliver Schacht, PhD, CEO of Curetis. "Both bring long-standing expertise in business development in the diagnostics and the pharma industry."

"It is a great pleasure for me to join the Board of Curetis," said William Rhodes, Operating Partner with Linden Capital Partners. "Experts all over the world agree that fast, early and reliable diagnosis of pathogens and antibiotic resistance is key for better antibiotic stewardship, and Curetis has developed a very innovative approach to provide a solution for this pressing problem."

Disclaimer

CAUTION - Investigational device. Limited by Federal (or United States) law to investigational use. The information contained in this communication does not constitute nor imply an offer to sell or transfer any product, and no product based on the Curetis Unyvero technology is currently available for sale in the United States of America or Canada. The analytical and clinical performance characteristics of any Curetis Unyvero product which may be sold at some future point in time in the U.S. have not yet been established.

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1} Curetis B.V. will be converted into Curetis N.V.

About the Unyvero Platform

The CE-marked Unyvero System is a versatile hardware platform for the detection of a broad panel of bacteria, fungi and antibiotic resistance genes from a single sample in one run. It processes a disposable Application Cartridge providing the necessary reagents to complete the analysis from sample to result. It is marketed in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and various other non-European countries. In the U.S., Curetis is running a prospective multi-center clinical trial aimed at achieving FDA clearance registered here.

The platform enables the DNA-based testing of all clinically relevant samples in a fully automated, unsupervised analysis process requiring only a few, quick manual preparation steps. The analysis thus can be performed with minimal operator time and without the need of skilled staff or special infrastructure. Thereby, clinically relevant information is available within about four to five hours to support an informed therapy decision as early as possible.

The CE-marked Unyvero P55 Application Cartridge focuses on pneumonia testing and simultaneously analyzes 40 DNA targets. The second CE-marked Unyvero i60 ITI Application Cartridge for implant and tissue infections is also commercially available in Europe and is currently being evaluated in a prospective European multi-center cohort study in prosthetic joint infections (EPJIC).

Application Cartridges for additional indications are in various stages of development and preparation.

For further information, please visit www.unyvero.com.

About Curetis AG

Founded in 2007, Curetis AG is a molecular diagnostics company which focuses on the development and commercialization of reliable, fast and cost-effective products for diagnosing severe infectious diseases. The diagnostic solutions of Curetis AG enable rapid multi-parameter pathogen and antibiotic resistance marker detection in only a few hours, a process that today can take up to days or even weeks with other techniques.

To date, Curetis AG has raised total funds of over EUR 63.5 million (>US$ 70 million). The company is based in Holzgerlingen near Stuttgart, Germany. Curetis AG has signed collaboration agreements with Heraeus Medical and Cempra Inc. as well as several international distribution agreements covering many countries across Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

For further information, please visit www.curetis.com.

Important legal information

This document may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are based on the current views, expectations and assumptions of the management of Curetis and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "believe", "anticipate", "expect", "estimate", "may", "could", "should", "would", "will", "intend", "plan", the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Actual results, performance or events may differ materially from those described in such statements due to, among other things, changes in the general economic and competitive environment, risks associated with capital markets, currency exchange rate fluctuations and competition from other companies, changes in international and national laws and regulations, rapid technological and market change in the industries Curetis operates in, as well as many other risks specifically related to Curetis and its operations. Curetis does not assume any obligations to update any forward-looking statements. 

CONTACT: Curetis AG
         Max-Eyth-Str. 42
         71088 Holzgerlingen, Germany
         Tel. +49 7031 49195-10
         pr@curetis.com
         www.curetis.com - www.unyvero.com
         
         International Media Inquiries
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         Tel. +49 30 23 63 27 68
         
         U.S. Media Inquiries
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         Tel. +1 646 536 7012

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