Agendia appoints oncologist Richard A. Bender as vice president and chief medical officer

Tuesday, 01 April 2008

Leader in Molecular Cancer Diagnostics Strengthens U.S. Management Along With U.S. Presence

Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 01, 2008 / Agendia BV, a world leader in the rapidly evolving field of cancer molecular diagnostics, today announced the appointment of Richard A. Bender, MD, FACP to the position of vice president and chief medical officer (CMO). Dr. Bender, who will report directly to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Bernhard Sixt, will be responsible for directing all medical activities within Agendia, playing an integral role in defining the strategic vision of the company as it expands its U.S. presence with an Agendia Inc. office in California in the coming months.

“We are very pleased to add a Board certified Oncologist of Dr. Bender’s caliber to our management team,” said Dr. Sixt. “As we continue to expand our U.S. presence and the use of our MammaPrint® diagnostic service by U.S.-based patients, we are confident that Dr. Bender’s wealth of experience will play a critical role in the company’s strategic planning and execution of our clinical programs.”

“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Bender to the Agendia team,” said Dr. Jan Groen, chief operating officer (COO) of Agendia. “His reputation and broad experience in the field of oncology, including treatment, drug development and genomic assays, will be an extremely valuable asset to our company as we increase our global presence.” “I am very excited to be joining Agendia at such a pivotal and exciting time in the company’s development,” said Dr. Bender. “Their FDA cleared breast cancer prognostic test MammaPrint clearly shows that Agendia is becoming an important diagnostic provider for the management of breast cancer. The company’s promising oncology pipeline and its depth of expertise shows that the company is positioned very well to achieve its goal of bringing innovative cancer diagnostics to patient care.”

Most recently, Dr. Bender was vice president and chief medical officer at Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an oncology drug development company based in Irvine, CA. Dr. Bender has held key positions in the healthcare industry, including medical director for the oncology division of Quest Diagnostics, Inc., where he was involved in the development of new biomarkers and genomic assays. Prior to his tenure at Quest, he spent nearly two decades at Kaiser Permanente where he helped to develop their clinical oncology program.

Dr. Bender also served on the executive board of the San Diego Hospice and the American Cancer Society, and as a clinical instructor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the UCLA School of Medicine followed by specialty training in internal medicine at UCLA-Harbor General Hospital. He did his sub-specialty training in hematology/ oncology at the National Cancer Institute, where he spent three of his six years there as a senior investigator in the medicine branch.

Dr. Bender continues to serve as a clinical instructor at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, is a co-editor of the international oncology journal Anti-Cancer Drugs, and serves as an expert peer-reviewer in oncology for the Medical Board of California.