QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - Jan. 15, 2009) - Medicago Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MDG), a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles, announced today that Mr. Pierre Des Marais II, longstanding board member of numerous companies, has been appointed to its Board of Directors.
"We are pleased to welcome Mr. Des Marais II to our Board," said Dr. Randal Chase, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Medicago. "With extensive experience serving on the boards of some of Canada's leading companies, broad business acumen and contacts, his guidance will be invaluable as we pursue the global commercialization of our proprietary plant-based technology and continue to advance our vaccine programs."
Over the past 40 years, Mr. Des Marais II has served on the board of more than 20 companies, most notably: Rothmans Inc., Imperial Oil Ltd., Royal Bank of Canada, Sleeman Breweries Ltd., Canadian National Railways, Goodyear Canada, Carling O'Keefe Ltd., Canadair Ltd., and Air Canada. He was President and CEO of Unimedia for 12 years until July 1999. Mr. Des Marais II was Mayor of the City of Outremont, a suburb of Montreal, for 14 years. From 1978 to 1985, Mr. Des Marais II was Chairman of the Executive Committee of Montreal Urban Community. He started his career as Managing Director at the age of 21 at his family's firm, Pierre Des Marais Inc., one of Canada's largest printing companies. Mr. Des Marais II studied Business Administration at the "Haute Etudes Commerciales" in Montreal.
Medicago also announced today that its Board of Directors has approved an amendment to the Company's Stock Option Plan to increase the number of shares available for issuance from 4,500,000 to 9,000,000 and subsequently granted 3,472,650 stock options to executives, employees and a consultant. In accordance with the terms of employment agreements and conditions of the stock option plan, 1,420,000 of the options were issued at an exercise price of $0.355 and 2,052,650 options at an exercise price of $0.20, and are set to expire five years from the date of the grant. The amendment to the Stock Option Plan, and consequently the issuance of 1,317,245 options, is subject to the approval by Medicago's shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting of shareholders to be held in May.
About Medicago
Medicago is committed to provide highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary Virus-Like Particle (VLP) and manufacturing technologies. Medicago is developing VLP vaccines to protect against H5N1 pandemic influenza, using a transient expression system which produces recombinant vaccine antigens in non-transgenic plants. This technology has potential to offer advantages of speed and cost over competitive technologies. It could deliver a vaccine for testing in about a month after the identification and reception of genetic sequences from a pandemic strain. This production time frame has the potential to allow vaccination of the population before the first wave of a pandemic strikes and to supply large volumes of vaccine antigens to the world market. Additional information about Medicago is available at www.medicago.com.
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