NORCROSS, Ga., Jan 08, 2007 -- Auriga Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: ARGA) or "Auriga", a specialty pharmaceutical company with products for the treatment of acute respiratory diseases, dermatological conditions, and Xerostomia, announced today that it has appointed Jae Yu as its Vice President of Finance. Mr. Yu has more than 13 years of financial and accounting experience, including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and capital markets expertise. Mr. Yu joins Auriga from Youbet.com, Inc., a diversified provider of technology and pari-mutuel horse racing content for consumers through Internet and telephone platforms, where he was Principal Accounting Officer and Corporate Controller.
While at Youbet.com, Mr. Yu was responsible for the timely publication of all financial statements and SEC filings, including Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, risk management, accounting systems and tax compliance for the company, which had $150 million in annual revenue and 440 employees. He played a key role in conducting due diligence on acquisitions and then subsequently integrated the acquired companies with Youbet's accounting, financial reporting, and Sarbanes-Oxley systems and processes.
I am pleased to attract an experienced financial executive such as Jae," said Philip S. Pesin, Chief Executive Officer of Auriga Laboratories. "In the past few months, we have attracted two experienced financial executives to support our growing pharmaceutical sales force and revenue base. "We look forward to the important role that Charles R. Bearchell, our new CFO, and Jae will play in helping the Company expand its operations."
Previously, Mr. Yu was a financial consultant and business advisor to Resources Global Professionals, which included a consulting engagement for The Disney Stores, Inc. The scope of the engagement included preparing monthly and quarterly financial statements for 350 North American stores and 15 corporate overhead departments. He also worked for Sherwood Partners, Inc., a Los Angeles based consulting firm, where he was involved in financial restructurings, turnarounds, debt negotiations, bank refinancings and other strategic activities.
Mr. Yu's previous experience included financial roles with Fortune 500 companies such as Comcast, Twentieth Century Fox, Inc. and American Express Inc. He received a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Wisconsin and earned his CPA certificate from the State of Minnesota.
About Auriga Laboratories(TM) Auriga Laboratories(TM) is a specialty pharmaceutical company capitalizing on high-revenue markets and opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry through proactive sales, integrated marketing and advanced in-house drug development capabilities. The Company's high-growth business model combines acquisition of proven brand names, powerful product development strategies and rapidly-growing national sales teams and marketing operations. Auriga acquires valuable brand portfolios that are no longer a strategic focus for large pharmaceutical companies, then capitalizes on untapped marketplace opportunities through brand extension and directed sales/marketing programs. The Company's drug-development pipeline leverages novel material science and advanced drug delivery technologies to produce improved formulations of successful brands to further expand markets, sales and clinical indications for proven, successful products. Auriga's exclusive product portfolio currently includes the Extendryl(R) and Levall(R) families of prescription products, indicated for relief of symptoms associated with a range of acute respiratory diseases. Auriga's product portfolio also consists of Aquoral(TM) for the treatment of Xerostomia. Auriga plans to become a fully integrated pharmaceutical company by acquiring its own manufacturing and development capabilities. Moving forward, the Company will seek to acquire and/or in-license additional products and technologies to further grow revenues. For more information, please visit: www.aurigalabs.com.
Forward-Looking Statements The information contained herein includes forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or to our future financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond our control and which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects our current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. We assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations include, but are not limited to, those factors that are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our documents filed from time to time with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory authorities. Statements regarding our ability to increase its sales force and the success of such sales force in selling our products in light of competitive and other factors, the regulatory status and/or regulatory compliance of our products, our ability to secure additional financing, our ability to sustain market acceptance for our products, our dependence on collaborators, our ability to find and execute strategic transactions, our potential exposure to litigation, our exposure to product liability claims, and our prices, future revenues and income and cash flows and other statements that are not historical facts contain predictions, estimates and other forward-looking statements. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our goals will be achieved and these statements will prove to be accurate. Important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements.
Auriga Laboratories, Inc.
Philip Pesin,
877-287-4428
investors@aurigalabs.com or CEOcast, Inc. for Auriga Laboratories
Josh Reynolds,
212-732-4300
jreynolds@ceocast.com
