Pulse Biosciences Announces Transition of Board of Directors

Pulse Biosciences Inc., a medical technology company developing proprietary therapeutic tissue treatments based on its Nano (one billionth of a second) Pulse Stimulation (NPS) platform, is reshuffling its Board of Directors. Bob Duggan has been appointed board chairman; Ken Clark, Dr. Thomas Fogarty, and Manmeet S. Soni have been appointed as independent directors, effective Nov. 2. Concurrently, four existing members of the board retired, including former Chairman Robert Levande, and independent directors Mitchell Levinson, Robert Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., and Thierry Thaure. Existing members Darrin Uecker and Maky Zanganeh are remaining on the board.
 
“The new board members and current board member Maky Zanganeh are very familiar with one another and have achieved notable success together and independently. Enthusiasm and confidence in Pulse Biosciences’ future is the common denominator bringing them together once again. We look forward to benefitting from their vision, operational experience and dedication to patient-friendly healthcare procedures and outcomes, ” stated Darrin Uecker, Pulse Biosciences’ president and CEO. “I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to Bob, Bob, Mitch, and Thierry for their contribution to Pulse. We are grateful for their service as each of these pre-IPO board members were instrumental in the formation and growth of the company from an asset spun out of academia to today’s public biotech company well-positioned to generate significant value for patients and our shareholders.”
 
“I am honored to step into the role of Chairman of the Board and work with the Pulse Biosciences team,” said Duggan.
 
Appointed Board Members
Clark is a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He serves as general counsel to companies and their boards of directors, primarily in the biotechnology industry. Clark has extensive expertise in partnering and strategic transactions, having negotiated more than 100 major strategic alliance and M&A transactions. He also regularly represents companies in financings, spin-outs, and related matters. Clark served on the firm’s board of directors from 2011 to 2014 and from 2002 to 2006, and previously was a member of its Policy Committee. He was recognized by Chambers and Partners in its 2005-2017 editions of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business as one of the country’s top biotechnology lawyers, being identified as “Band One” in the biotechnology field. Clark served as a director of Pharmacyclics Inc., from 2012 until their sale to AbbVie in 2015.
 
Duggan is an entrepreneur with multiple successful companies to his credit, spanning communication technology, outdoor media, surgical robotics and pharmaceuticals. Of particular note is his recent success with Pharmacyclics, a Silicon Valley biotechnology company; he assumed control of the company in September 2008 when it had a market capitalization of $25 million and was merged into AbbVie for $21 billion in May of 2015. He was CEO and board chairman throughout his seven-year tenure at Phyarmacyclics.
 
Fogarty is an internationally-recognized cardiovascular surgeon, inventor, entrepreneur and vintner. He has dedicated his entire career to improving patient care and has acquired 165 medical patents for his work, including the “industry standard” Fogarty balloon catheter and the widely used AneuRx Stent Graft that replaces open surgery aortic aneurysm. His inventions heavily influence the way surgery is performed today. Fogarty has been recognized by countless organizations for his contributions to medical science. He was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement bestowed by the President of the United States on America’s leading innovators “for innovations in minimally invasive medical devices.”
 
Soni is an experienced finance executive and chief financial officer (CFO) of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he provides strategic leadership over all financial management company-wide, including the global finance, investor relations and communications team. Prior to joining Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Soni served as CFO and treasurer of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals Inc., where he played a central role in the strategic review, turnaround, and subsequent acquisition of ARIAD Pharmaceuticals by Takeda Pharmaceuticals Company Limited. Before joining ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, Soni worked at Pharmacyclics, where he served most recently as CFO and treasurer.
 
He also played a vital role in the acquisition of Pharmacyclics by AbbVie for $21 billion. Previously, Soni worked at ZELTIQ Aesthetics Inc. (acquired by Allergan), and PricewaterhouseCoopers San Jose, in the Life Science and Venture Capital Group. Prior to that, he worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, India. Soni also previously served as a board member and audit committee chair at Genoscience Pharma. Manmeet graduated from Hansraj College at Delhi University in India. He is a certified public accountant, licensed in the state of California, and a chartered accountant from India.
 
Pulse Biosciences is a medical technology company developing a therapeutic tissue treatment platform based on Nano-Pulse Stimulation (NPS), a proprietary high-speed cell signaling technology. NPS is a non-thermal, precise, focal drug-free tissue treatment technology that directly affects the cell membrane and intracellular structures to stimulate unique behaviors in cells. NPS can initiate a cell death process that allows for the treatment of tissue cells with minimal inflammatory response which improves healing outcomes and supports the replacement of treated tissue cells with healthy tissue cells. In cancerous lesions, NPS has been shown in preclinical models to induce immunogenic cell death (ICD) exposing the unique antigens of the treated cells to the immune system, resulting in the generation of cytotoxic T-cells and the mounting of an adaptive immune response targeted against those cells. Pulse Biosciences is investigating a variety of applications for its technology that exploits the technology’s unique biologic effect, including immuno-oncology, dermatology, and veterinary medicine.