ANN ARBOR, Mich., Feb. 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- With deep regret,
Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Amex: AEN), announced today the
passing of its Senior Vice President of Research & Development,
David A. Newsome, M.D. Dr. Newsome
invented and developed ZincMonoCysteine and was the first person to
pioneer and demonstrate the benefits of oral high dose zinc therapy
in age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness
in older Americans. Oral high dose zinc containing nutritional
products now represent the standard of care for age-related macular
degeneration which affects over 10 million Americans.
During his career, Dr. Newsome spent over a decade in clinical
and laboratory research at the National Eye Institute, becoming the
Head of the Retinal Disease Section. As Associate Professor at the
Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, Dr. Newsome combined teaching
and clinical work with his laboratory research. Dr. Newsome
continued his passion of teaching, patient care, clinical and
laboratory research as a full tenured Professor at Louisiana State University Medical School,
New Orleans. After teaching there,
Dr. Newsome formed his own surgical and medical retina disease
private practice, and continued to perform clinical and laboratory
research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and private
foundation grants. After the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in
New Orleans, Dr. Newsome worked as
a surgical ophthalmologist until joining the management team at
Adeona in 2006. He earned an M.D. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Duke University, and completed an ophthalmology
residency and a fellowship in retinal diseases and surgery at
Harvard University. He also completed a
retinal fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami.
"On behalf of the Board of Directors and all of his colleagues
at Adeona, I would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to
David's family," stated James S.
Kuo, M.D., M.B.A., Adeona's Chairman and CEO. "David was a
dear friend and cherished colleague. He will be remembered for his
life's work to develop zinc-based therapies for patients. David
will be greatly missed."
About Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Adeona is a pharmaceutical company developing innovative
medicines for the treatment of serious central nervous system
diseases. The Company's strategy is to license product candidates
that have demonstrated a certain level of clinical efficacy and
develop them to a stage that results in a significant commercial
collaboration. Currently, Adeona is developing the following
product candidates: a prescription medical food for Alzheimer's
disease, and drugs for multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia,
age-related macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis. For more
information, please visit Adeona's website at
www.adeonapharma.com.
This release includes forward-looking statements on Adeona's
current expectations and projections about future events. In some
cases forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology
such as "may," "should," "potential," "continue," "expects,"
"anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," and
similar expressions. These statements are based upon current
beliefs, expectations and assumptions and are subject to a number
of risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict
and include statements regarding the timing and results of our
clinical studies and our ability to successfully develop products
with superior benefits. The forward-looking statements are subject
to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those set forth or implied by any
forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from those reflected in
Adeona's forward-looking statements include, among others,
the availability of financial and other resources and the
allocation of resources among different potential uses, a
failure of our clinical trials to be completed on time or to
achieve desired results, a failure of the new branding to achieve
desired results, a failure of our clinical reference laboratory to
continue to grow and achieve revenue or a failure by us or our
strategic partners to successfully commercialize products and other
factors described in Adeona's report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2009
and any other filings with the SEC. The information in this
release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Adeona
undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this release on account of new information, future
events, or otherwise, except as required by law.
SOURCE Adeona Pharmaceuticals, Inc.