SUNRISE, Fla., Jan. 20, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT) announced that it has elected Dr. Karl Groth, a co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Fund, to its Board of Directors. The company also announced that Peggy Farley, also a co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Fund, has been appointed as Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Dr. Groth is also President and CEO of Ascent Private Equity, the General Partner of the funds, which are focused on investments in medical device, life science and biotechnology. Dr. Groth has over thirty years experience in the health care industry, ten of which were with Medtronic Inc. He also published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in professional journals. Dr. Groth received his B.S. from the State University of New York in Biology, his M.S. from New York University and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.
"Bioheart is well-positioned as a leader in the field of cellular therapy for treating heart failure, which is why our fund previously made a sizeable investment in the company," said Dr. Groth. "I believe the strategic direction of the company in generating near-term revenues from its commercially approved heart monitoring technologies and to utilize profits from these sales to support research is brilliant in this environment of tough capital markets."
"Dr. Groth will be a valuable asset to Bioheart as we move forward to complete our clinical trials and move forward with our transition into becoming a commercial company," said Howard J. Leonhardt, Chairman and CEO of Bioheart, Inc.
Peggy Farley is a co-founder of the Ascent Medical Technology Funds, venture capital funds that have achieved an extraordinary record of returns for their investors. Farley has a top-tier record of returns in the equity management arena and is well-regarded for expertise in the IPO markets. As Co-Chairman of the Ascent Group, she has overseen rapid growth companies that have been successfully harvested and has established the investment banking services of the Group to aid companies in every phase of development. Peggy Farley started her investment banking career at Morgan Stanley, where she was a member of the international group in the investment banking division. She led a strategic planning task force that was critical to the firm's international positioning in the early eighties, and then worked with sovereign governments, focusing on the People's Republic of China as it emerged from isolation. She has been CEO of SEC registered investment advisory firms and an SEC and NASD registered broker dealer. Peggy Farley holds an M.A. with High Honors from Columbia University and an A.B. from Barnard College.
About Bioheart, Inc.:
Bioheart, Inc. (Nasdaq:BHRT) is committed to delivering intelligent devices and biologics that help monitor, diagnose and treat heart failure and cardiovascular diseases. Its goals are to improve a patient's quality of life and reduce health care costs and hospitalizations. Specific to biotechnology, Bioheart is focused on the discovery, development and, subject to regulatory approval, commercialization of autologous cell therapies for the treatment of chronic and acute heart damage. Its lead product candidate, MyoCell(r), is an innovative clinical muscle-derived stem cell therapy designed to populate regions of scar tissue within a patient's heart with new living cells for the purpose of improving cardiac function in chronic heart failure patients. The Company's pipeline includes multiple product candidates for the treatment of heart damage, including Bioheart Acute Cell Therapy, an autologous, adipose tissue-derived stem cell treatment for acute heart damage, and MyoCell(r) SDF-1, a therapy utilizing autologous cells that are genetically modified to express additional potentially therapeutic growth proteins. For more information on Bioheart, visit www.bioheartinc.com.
Forward-Looking Statements:
Except for historical matters contained herein, statements made in this press release are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "to," "plan," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," or "continue" or the negative other variations thereof or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Investors and others are cautioned that a variety of factors, including certain risks, may affect our business and cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. These risk factors include, without limitation, (i) our ability to obtain additional financing; (ii) our ability to control and reduce our expenses; (iii) our ability to establish a distribution network for and commence distribution of certain products for which we have acquired distribution rights; (iv) our ability to timely and successfully complete our clinical trials; (v) the occurrence of any unacceptable side effects during or after preclinical and clinical testing of our product candidates; (vi) the timing of and our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approvals for our product candidates; (vii) our dependence on the success of our lead product candidate; (viii) our inability to predict the extent of our future losses or if or when we will become profitable; (ix) our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; and (x) intense competition. The Company is also subject to the risks and uncertainties described in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the section entitled "Risk Factors" in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, as amended by Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2008, June 30, 2008 and September 30, 2008.