Xagenic Announces Appointment of Dr. Linda McAllister as Chief Medical Officer

TORONTO, May 12, 2014 /CNW/ - Xagenic Inc., a molecular diagnostics company developing the first lab-free molecular diagnostic platform with a 20 minute time-to-result, announced today the appointment of Linda McAllister, MD, PhD to the position of Chief Medical Officer.  Dr. McAllister joins Xagenic's leadership as it drives the company's vision of enabling molecular diagnostics in physician offices and clinics.

"While the decentralization of molecular diagnostics has progressed significantly over the past 5-6 years, it has not yet reached the physician office primarily due to the technical challenges of rapidly and cost-effectively automating enzymatic amplification-based approaches in a user-friendly format.  Dr. McAllister brings a track record of accomplishments in clinical medicine, academic research and medical device/diagnostics companies, which will help us to commercialize our new enzyme-free molecular diagnostic platform" said Shana Kelley, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Xagenic.  "Dr. McAllister's broad experience base in clinical and regulatory affairs, combined with an understanding of clinical practice, makes Linda a strong addition to the management team as we focus on clinical validation of the Xagenic system and first assay."

Prior to joining Xagenic, Linda was the Chief Medical Officer at Cellscape, a prenatal genetic testing company.  Previously, she was Chief Medical Officer and VP of R&D at PharmaJet where she led R&D efforts to support the submission of several successful 510(k) filings for a needle-free injection device system. She also led the regulatory and development efforts at Arbor Vita, a therapeutic and diagnostic company, where she obtained a 510(k) clearance on a diagnostic test for Avian flu and launched a global clinical trial for a diagnostic test to detect HPV. Earlier in her career, Dr. McAllister contributed to the development and launch of new molecular technologies at Roche Diagnostics, Celera Diagnostics and Affymetrix.

"I'm excited to join the motivated and hard-working team at Xagenic," said Dr. McAllister.  "The innovative diagnostic platform they have developed is truly designed to address clinical needs, including ease-of-use, rapid clinically actionable results and lower molecular testing costs.  This system has the right features to enable molecular testing at the point of care, and I look forward to lending my expertise to the company's efforts in this important pursuit."

Linda served as Adjunct Clinical Professor in the department of Medicine at UCSF from 1992 to 2005.  She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at UCSF and was a Bugher Cardiovascular Research Fellow at Stanford.  She received her B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and both a Ph.D. in Neurosciences and an M.D. from Stanford University Medical School.

About Xagenic Inc.

Based in Toronto, Xagenic is a privately held molecular diagnostics company developing a fully-automated molecular diagnostic platform that will enable lab-free testing with a time-to-result of 20 minutes.  The company is developing a menu of infectious disease tests that will have a positive impact on patient care and reduce health care costs. The company is supported by private investors, including Domain Associates, CTI Life Sciences Fund and the Ontario Capital Growth Corporation.  For more information, please visit http://www.xagenic.com.

SOURCE: Xagenic Canada Inc.

Xagenic Inc., Shana Kelley, Ph.D., Founder & Chief Technology Officer, [email protected], 647.500.8641