Corporate News

Polarean Imaging plc (AIM: POLX), the medical‑imaging technology company, with a proprietary drug‑device combination product using hyperpolarised xenon-129 gas to enhance magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in pulmonary medicine, announces the appointment of Charles (“Chuck”) Fremont Osborne Jr. to the Board with immediate effect.

Chuck joined Polarean in April 2019 as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”). He was previously at Innocrin Pharmaceuticals Inc (“Innocrin”), a privately held oncology therapeutics company where he was CFO since 2015. Prior to his role at Innocrin, Chuck  was CFO of Scynexis Inc, a publicly traded anti-infective company between 2003 and 2015.  Chuck holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, with a Concentration in Accounting, from University of North Carolina. He is a Certified Public Accountant and began his accounting career at Deloittie & Touche in 1988. 

Richard Hullihen, CEO of Polarean Imaging, commented: “Chuck has been an invaluable addition to the team since his appointment in 2019, and this next step to take a position on the Board is a natural one. Chuck has significant capital markets experience coupled with a strong knowledge of financial operations within the pharmaceutical industry, and we welcome him to the Board ahead of the next phase of Polarean’s lifecycle.”

The following information regarding the appointment of Charles Osborne (aged 55) is required to be disclosed under Rule 17, Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules for Companies:

Current directorships/partnerships:  None

Directorships and partnerships held within the last five years: None

Shareholding: Charles Osborne holds 1,200,000 options over ordinary shares of the Company.

Save for the information set out above, there are no further disclosures to be made in respect of the appointment of Charles Osborne.

Enquiries:

About Polarean (www.polarean.com)

The Company and its wholly owned subsidiary, Polarean, Inc. (together the "Group") are revenue generating, medical drug-device combination companies operating in the high resolution medical imaging market.

The Group develops equipment that enables existing MRI systems to achieve an improved level of pulmonary function imaging and specialises in the use of hyperpolarised Xenon gas (¹²⁹Xe) as an imaging agent to visualise ventilation and gas exchange regionally in the smallest airways of the lungs, the tissue barrier between the lung and the bloodstream and in the pulmonary vasculature. Xenon gas exhibits solubility and signal properties that enable it to be imaged within other tissues and organs.

The Group operates in an area of significant unmet medical need and the Group's technology provides a novel diagnostic approach, offering a non-invasive and radiation-free functional imaging platform which is more accurate and less harmful to the patient than current methods. The annual burden of pulmonary disease in the US is estimated to be over US$150 billion.