QUEBEC CITY, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - April 21, 2008) - Medicago Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MDG) (the "Company"), today announced the return of Mr. Pierre Labbe as Chief Financial Officer on a full-time basis, effective May 5, 2008. Concurrent with his appointment, the Company has granted Mr. Labbe 200,000 stock options at an exercise price of $0.66, vested over a period of five years.
"We are very pleased to welcome back Pierre Labbe. He is a seasoned executive who will be able to contribute immediately due to his understanding of our Company, knowledge of the life sciences sector and his public company background," said Andy Sheldon, President & CEO of Medicago. "His appointment strengthens our experienced senior management team and addresses the increased demands on strategic planning and capital markets activities as we build the Company and execute our growth strategy. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Vincent Belanger who has acted as temporary Chief Financial Officer at Medicago for the last year. We are grateful for his contribution and efforts and wish him luck with his future endeavours,"
Pierre Labbe is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of financial experience. He was most recently Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Plexmar Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:PLE). Prior to Plexmar, Mr. Labbe spent three years as Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Secretary of Medicago. He served as CFO of Sequoia Minerals Inc. and Mazarin Inc. from March 2000 to December 2003. Prior to March 2000, Mr. Labbe held management positions in accounting and finance with Agrinove, an agrifood cooperative and Coopers & Lybrand, now PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he was involved in many acquisitions and public financing projects. He has been Director of Advitech Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AVI) since May 11, 2007. He holds a degree in Business Administration and Accounting Sciences from Universite Laval. He is a member of the Ordre des comptables agrees du Quebec and of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.
The Company also announced that pursuant to the terms and conditions of its stock option plan, Dr. Louis Vezina, Chief Scientific Officer, will receive 38,444 stock options as part of his annual bonus program. Nathalie Landry and Frederic Ors will also receive 30,000 and 60,000 stock options, respectively, following their appointment as Vice-President at Medicago. The stock options were issued at an exercise price of $0.66 and expire in five years.
All of the above grants of options are subject to the shareholders approval of a proposed increase in the number of shares available for options grant under the stock option plan of Medicago. Management is seeking to obtain directors and shareholders approval in respect of this proposed amendment to the stock option plan of Medicago.
About Medicago Inc.
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