Appointment of Jackie Walker as CEO for US business subsidiary, Pacific Edge Diagnostics USA

Pacific Edge announces the appointment of Jackie Walker as the Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Edge's wholly owned subsidiary Pacific Edge Diagnostics USA Ltd (PEDUSA).

The PEDUSA laboratory, located in Hershey Pennsylvania with a planned capacity of up to 260,000 tests per annum, is on track for completion of the build-out in September 2012. PEDUSA is on target to commence business operations in March 2013, following an anticipated successful completion of the regulatory process administered by the Clinical Laboratory Improvements Amendment (CLIA).

Treatment of bladder cancer incurs the highest total medical costs of any cancer, and in the United States this figure is approaching US$200,000 per patient from detection until death. In the US there are expected to be in excess of 1,000,000 people presenting to their healthcare provider this year with blood in their urine, and it is anticipated that the US healthcare system could invest in excess of $1 billion this year in investigating haematuria. Cxbladder is expected to replace cytology for patients presenting to clinicians with haematuria and be used to complement cystoscopy in the clinical care of patients following treatment where patients are being monitored for a recurrence of the disease.

Most recently Jackie was President and CEO of OSspray, a UK headquartered biotech start-up. She led the company from founding IP technology through business plan development and fund raising to clinical validation, regulatory approval, global product commercialisation, and scale-up leading to strategic acquisition.

David Darling, CEO of Pacific Edge, said: "we are thrilled to have Jackie Walker drive our growth in the US. She is a strategic, results-oriented, and passionate executive with 25 years experience in the Life Sciences/Medical Device Industry. She has an outstanding background in P&L management, Sales and Marketing, New Product Development, and Operations. Her experience spans large global companies as well as start-ups."

"Throughout her career, Jackie has demonstrated a track record of success by conceiving and executing strategies to grow revenues, competitive market positioning, and profitability. This is exactly the kind of background that will drive PEDUSA's growth".

Jackie graduated from Duke University with a BS degree in Engineering and received an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she was a Morehead Fellow.

Jackie resides with her family in York, Pennsylvania and is now based at the new laboratory and US headquarters site in Hershey, Pennsylvania.