SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
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FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15 (d) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): November 11, 1999
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GENTA INCORPORATED
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Commission file number: 0-19635
Delaware 33-0326866
(State or other jurisdiction of (I.R.S. Employer
incorporation or organization) Identification Number)
99 Hayden Avenue, Suite 200, Lexington, Massachusetts 02421
(Address of principal executive offices)(Zip Code)
(781) 860-5150
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
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GENTA INCORPORATED
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
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Item 5. Other Event....................................................3
Item 7. Exhibit........................................................3
Signature...................................................................4
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Item 5 OTHER EVENT
On November 11, 1999, the Company issued the press release attached to
this Form as Exhibit 99.1.
Item 7 EXHIBIT
99.1 Press Release dated November 11, 1999.
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SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Date: November 12, 1999
GENTA INCORPORATED
/s/ Kenneth G. Kasses
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Kenneth G. Kasses, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Board of Directors,
President and Chief Executive Officer
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Exhibit 99.1
Press Release
AT THE COMPANY AT THE FINANCIAL RELATIONS BOARD
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Kenneth G. Kasses, Ph.D. For General Info: Susan Jayson (212) 661-8030
President and CEO For Analyst Info: Brian Gill (212) 661-8030
(781) 860-5150 For Media Info: Deanne Eagle (212) 661-8030
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 11, 1999
GENTA CHOOSES NEW CEO AND NEW CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
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Raymond Warrell, a leading oncologist from Memorial Sloan-Kettering, will
oversee clinical development as CEO and Mark Rogers is elected to serve as
Chairman.
Lexington, MA November 11, 1999--Genta Incorporated (Nasdaq: GNTA) announced
today that it has appointed Raymond P. Warrell, Jr., 50, M.D., MBA., a leading
oncology researcher from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and founder of
several pharmaceutical companies, to become President and Chief Executive
Officer. This new appointment is in response to the growing interest in the
clinical applications in cancer of G3139, Genta's lead antisense compound
targeted to the Bcl-2 gene, and to the fast track designation for its use in
malignant melanoma. Dr. Warrell has more than 20 years of drug development
experience. In a related development, Mark C. Rogers, 57, M.D., MBA., President
of Paramount Capital, Inc., former CEO of the Duke University Hospital, and a
member of Genta's Board of Directors has been elected Chairman. Kenneth G.
Kasses, 54, Ph.D., the present Chairman and CEO since 1997, will remain on the
Board.
Dr. Rogers stated, "These changes are in response to the encouraging clinical
results that the Company is receiving from its clinical trials and to the recent
FDA designation of fast track status for evaluation of the compound in malignant
melanoma. We recently reported that the results of the trial at the University
Hospital in Vienna with G3139, our Bcl-2 antisense compound, in combination with
dacarbazine (DTIC) were presented at a Cold Spring Harbor conference. This
report showed promising potential for increased survival in patients treated
with this combination regimen."
Dr. Kasses, who has been CEO and Chairman since 1997, will continue to serve as
a member of Genta's board. Dr. Kasses commented, "I believe it is now
appropriate to shift the leadership of Genta to help maximize the potential for
clinical trials that, hopefully, will lead to the demonstration of the drug's
promise and provide the data necessary to support applications for marketing. I
am looking forward to working with Genta's new leadership to assure an orderly
transition in the short-term and from my continuing position on the Board."
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Following are the biographies of Drs. Warrell and Rogers.
Raymond P. Warrell, Jr., M.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Raymond Warrell is presently a Member, Attending Physician, and Professor of
Medicine at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Joan and Sanford
Weill Medical College of Cornell University. In addition, he has more than 20
years of development and consulting experience in pharmaceuticals and
biotechnology products.
Dr. Warrell is a co-founder and chairman of the scientific advisory board of
PolaRx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., manufacturers of arsenic trioxide, an
investigational agent for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia. He is
also founder and chairman of Relgen LLC, a privately held pharmaceutical company
that is developing GaniteT (gallium nitrate injection), which is approved in the
U.S. and Canada for treatment of cancer-related hypercalcemia. In addition to
world-wide patents on both arsenic and gallium containing compounds, Dr. Warrell
holds or has filed seven other unique patent applications for various biomedical
therapeutic or diagnostic agents. He has also been a consultant to a number of
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Genta.
Dr. Warrell has a B.S. in Chemistry from Emory University, a M.D. from the
Medical College of Georgia, and a M.B.A. from Columbia University Graduate
School of Business. Since 1980, he has been associated with the Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where he currently holds tenured
positions as Member and Attending Physician, and with the Joan and Sanford Weill
Medical College of Cornell University, where he has been Professor of Medicine
since 1994. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers and more than
240 book chapters and abstracts, most of which are focused upon drug development
in neoplastic diseases. He is a member of the American Society of Clinical
Investigation, the American Society of Hematology, the American Association for
Cancer Research, and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Among many
awards, he has received the U.S. Public Health Service Award for Exceptional
Achievement in Orphan Drug Development from the Food and Drug Administration.
Mark C. Rogers, M.D., MBA
Currently, Dr. Rogers is President of Paramount Capital, Inc., a company
specializing in investments in the pharmaceutical, medical and biotechnology
area. The company has offices on three continents and has started many companies
now listed on national markets. Dr. Rogers formerly was Senior Vice President,
Corporate Development and Chief Technology Officer of the Perkin-Elmer
Corporation. He was responsible for mergers, acquisitions, and technologic
development in molecular biology for a $1.3 billion multinational corporation.
Areas of focus included DNA sequencing, gene expression, and protein analysis,
as well as other molecular tools vital for pharmaceutical discovery.
Prior to his position at Perkin-Elmer, Dr. Rogers was Vice Chancellor for Health
Affairs of Duke University Medical Center and Executive Director and Chief
Executive Officer of Duke Hospital and Health Network. He was responsible for
the overall administration of the 1,100 bed Duke Hospital, located in Durham,
North Carolina, creating the Duke Health Network, which
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encompasses the clinical activities such as the development of Duke's primary
care network and Health Maintenance Organization. Dr. Rogers was instrumental in
designing strategic partnerships with business, especially with medical and
pharmaceutical companies, and his work at Duke was chosen as a case study for
the Harvard Business School.
Dr. Rogers began his career at Johns Hopkins University, where he spent 16 years
and held a number of senior positions, including Distinguished Faculty Professor
and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine,
Director of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, and Professor of Pediatrics. In
his role as Associate Dean, Dr. Rogers founded a number of innovative business
ventures at Hopkins, and he was asked to attend Wharton where he received a MBA.
There is now an Endowed Professorship at Hopkins named for him.
Genta Incorporated (Nasdaq: GNTA) is a biopharmaceutical company whose strategy
consists of building a product and technology portfolio concentrating on cancer
therapy including its Anticode(TM) (antisense) products intended to treat cancer
at its genetic source. For more detailed information about Genta, please visit
our website at WWW.GENTA.COM.
To receive Genta Incorporated's latest news release and other corporate
documents via fax, at no cost, dial 1-800-PRO-INFO; use the Company's symbol
GNTA. Or visit The Financial Relations Board's web site at www.frbinc.com.
The statements contained in this press release that are not historical are
forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934,
as amended, including statements regarding the expectations, beliefs, intentions
or strategies regarding the future. Without limiting the foregoing, the words
"anticipates," "believes," "expects," "intends," "may" and "plans" and similar
expectations are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The Company
intends that all forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements reflect the Company's views as of the date they are
made with respect to future events, but are subject to many risks and
uncertainties, which could cause the actual results of the Company to differ
materially from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. For example, the results obtained in pre-clinical studies may not be
indicative of results that will be obtained in clinical trials; Genta has not
successfully completed human clinical trials of a product based on antisense
technology; and delays in the completion of clinical trials as a result of
delays in patient enrollment or other factors may occur. Examples of such risks
and uncertainties also include, but are not limited to: the obtaining of
sufficient financing to maintain the Company's planned operations; the timely
development, receipt of necessary regulatory approvals and acceptance of new
products; the successful application of the Company's technology to produce new
products; the obtaining of proprietary protection for any such technology and
products; the impact of competitive products and pricing and reimbursement
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policies; and the changing of market conditions. The Company does not undertake
to update forward-looking statements.
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