Dublin, OH (November 12, 2015) – Biosortia Pharmaceuticals, a leader in discovering and co-developing potent novel bioactive compounds with a primary focus on drug discovery for cancer, infectious disease, and anti-inflammatory therapeutics, has announced today the appointment of Ross O. Youngs as interim CEO, effective immediately. Mr. Youngs succeeds Kurt Dieck who has resigned as President and CEO of the company after completing the initial 3-year term of his employment agreement to pursue other interests. The Board of Directors has formed a search committee to seek a successor CEO.

As Biosortia has evolved its strategy to focus on advancing its candidate compounds into the clinic, Mr. Dieck has expressed to the Board the future need for leadership with deeper Pharma experience. Mr. Dieck has extensive executive leadership experience and is actively involved in numerous other ventures and healthcare boards around the country.

“On behalf of the entire company, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to Kurt for his service and dedication to Biosortia during his tenure,” said Ross Youngs, Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO. “Under Mr. Dieck’s leadership, the business has successfully transformed from an algal technology company to a respected emerging drug discovery company on the verge of moving their first compounds into lead development”.

Mr. Youngs continued, “As Biosortia has successfully demonstrated access to novel potent chemistry, Biosortia is now positioned to advance its growing portfolio of candidate compounds. It is expected that the specialized leadership skills needed for the transition will come from the pharma industry, where the focus is on patient care and the science of clinical development.”

Biosortia has a proven natural products drug discovery engine focused on identifying therapies in cancer, infectious disease, and anti-inflammatory therapeutics. Biosortia’s source of the new chemistry is the microbial consortia from the micro-algal environment that is known for its rich chemical diversity and biological activity. Biosortia is the first company to access the microorganisms in the aquatic environment at scale. Biosortia’s science team is comprised of leading experts in natural product drug discovery and aquatic micro-organism environments. To date, Biosortia has research agreements with 3 top pharma companies.

Biosortia Pharmaceuticals is a DBA of Algaeventure Systems, Inc. (SEC records Link) with offices in Dublin’s DEC, a technology center in Columbus (Paragon Dr.), and laboratories in Charleston, SC.