EVANSTON, Ill., July 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
Northfield Laboratories Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLD), a leading developer of an oxygen-
carrying blood substitute for trauma and elective surgery situations, has
received director nominations from two dissident shareholders, R. Coates and
B. Williams, and has provided a stockholder list to them at their request, as
required by Delaware law. Coates is the same dissident shareholder who
threatened and abandoned a proxy contest in connection with Northfield's 2000
and 2001 annual meetings and filed and withdrew a lawsuit against the Company
in August of 2001.
In response to recent proposals for change in corporate governance
policies from both Nasdaq and the NYSE and the Securities and Exchange
Commission, Northfield's board of directors has formed a nominating committee
of independent directors to evaluate all board nominations. At the direction
of the Northfield board of directors, Coates has spoken by telephone with the
members of the nominating committee to discuss his nomination.
No final decision with respect to this year's board nomination will be
made by the nominating committee and Northfield's board of directors until
near the end of July. Once this decision is made, Northfield expects to issue
a press release announcing the date of its annual meeting of stockholders and
the list of directors nominated by Northfield's board. The details of the
meeting are being finalized and it is expected that the meeting will occur
around mid-September.
Richard DeWoskin, chief executive officer, commented, "Until the
nominating committee and the board make their final determination regarding
nominations, Northfield does not intend to comment on the accuracy or
substance of the statements made by the dissident Coates or the quality of his
credentials with respect to a directorship on Northfield's board."
Northfield Laboratories, founded in 1985, is a leading developer of an
oxygen-carrying blood substitute. Its product, PolyHeme, is the only blood
substitute undergoing clinical trials that has been tested at large enough
dosages to be considered a substitute for acute blood loss in trauma and
surgical settings. As a result of the process used to manufacture the blood
substitute, essentially a solution of polymerized hemoglobin, PolyHeme has a
longer shelf life than blood, requires no cross matching and does not transmit
disease.
Statements in this release that are not strictly historical are "forward-
looking" statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause the company's
actual results in the future to differ materially from expected results. These
risks include, among others: competition from other blood substitute products;
the company's ability to obtain regulatory approval to market PolyHeme
commercially; the company's and/or its representative's ability to
successfully market and sell PolyHeme; the company's ability to manufacture
PolyHeme in sufficient quantities; the company's ability to obtain an adequate
supply of raw materials; the company's ability to maintain intellectual
property protection for its proprietary product and to defend its existing
intellectual property rights from challenges by third parties; the
availability of capital to finance planned growth; and the extent to which the
hospitals and physicians using PolyHeme are able to obtain third-party
reimbursement, as described in the company's filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
Northfield, the members of its board of directors and certain of its
executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of
proxies in connection with Northfield's 2002 annual meeting of stockholders.
Information regarding each participant will be included in the proxy statement
that will be filed by Northfield with the Securities and Exchange Commission
in connection with the annual meeting. Shareholders are urged to read the
proxy statement carefully when it becomes available because it will contain
important information. Northfield's proxy statement will be available without
charge at the SEC's Internet web site at http://www.sec.gov . In addition,
Northfield will provide copies of its proxy statement without charge upon
request. Requests for copies of the proxy statement should be directed to
Northfield at (847) 864-3500.
Visit the Northfield website at: http://www.northfieldlabs.com .
SOURCE Northfield Laboratories Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.northfieldlabs.com
CONTACT:
Richard DeWoskin, Chief Executive Officer of
Northfield Laboratories Inc., +1-847-864-3500, or Investors, Bill
Schmidle, +1-312-640-6753, or Media, Cindy Martin,
+1-312-640-6741, both of FRB Weber Shandwick
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