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Aureon names Vijay Aggarwal CEO
By siliconindia
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Monday, 11 October 2004, 19:30 IST
NEW YORK: Aureon Biosciences Corp., a developer of pathology tools for diagnosing cancer, said it appointed Vijay Aggarwal as its president and chief executive and Kevin Johnson as chairman.
Aggarwal replaces founding president and chief executive Jon Edelson, who will continue to serve Aureon as a director and consultant.
Aggarwal, who took the helm last week, said following a board decision that the technology was sufficiently developed, the company decided to focus its attention on entry into the marketplace and eventual commercial success. With the research and development of its diagnostic support technology largely complete, Aureon is planning to launch its first product for prostate cancer in 2005. In the meantime, it will continue to conduct performance studies on its products.
Most recently, Aggarwal was the president of AAI Development Services, the product development arm of aaiPharma Inc. Previously, he was the president of Quest Diagnostic Ventures and executive vice president of laboratories for SmithKline Beecham Clinical Laboratories Inc.
Aggarwal also joined the board, whose chairman, Kevin Johnson, was appointed to that position earlier this year after holding a director's seat since October 2003. Johnson is the former CEO of Dianon Systems Inc. Aggarwal said the company did not have a chairman prior to Johnson's appointment.
Aureon is a systems pathology company whose technology intends to serve as an adjunct to current cancer diagnoses. The company is taking existing pathology tools, such as imaging analysis devices and molecular imaging products, and updating them with new capabilities. Aggarwal said the company has "developed an algorithm that comes up with a predictive value based on those images." Quantifying these images, and using the results in conjunction with clinical data, can help a physician to make a more informed decision.
"The technology can be applied to any pathology, and disease state and any tumor type," Aggarwal said. Aureon has focused initially on prostate cancer because of its high profile and the intricacies of determining the course of treatment for the condition. Initiatives for breast, lung and colon cancers are in development.
In September 2002, Aureon received $15 million of Series A funding from Sprout Group, Atlas Ventures and other undisclosed investors.
Aggarwal said the company is currently preparing to raise a Series B round following the results of several additional clinical trials. He had no comment on the amount of money the company will seek.
Yonkers, N.Y.-based Aureon has 30 employees.