VG Life Sciences Subsidiary, VGEnergy, Hires Chief Science Advisor

SAN MARINO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--VG Life Sciences (OTC Pink: VGLS) announces that Martin B. Dickman, Ph.D., has joined its subsidiary VGEnergy, as Chief Science Advisor. In concert with the company’s Board of Directors, Dr. Dickman will enhance the scientific rigor of the company’s alternative energy core technology platform and expand development of a pipeline of products that enhance the lipid and sugar production in emerging market sectors, such as algal biofuels, and significantly, in more mature and much larger markets, such as corn and sugar cane.

Dr. Dickman brings a knowledge base to the company that is expected to accelerate and expand the development of a pipeline of marketable products and processes. His expertise in comparative plant physiology and plant pathologies will enhance, and add a new dimension to the ongoing research.

“The overall goal of my work,” commented Dr. Dickman, “is understanding the mechanisms that regulate plant programmed cell death and implementing intervention or alternative strategies to generate new plants with novel mechanisms of pathogen resistance and stress tolerance. We have recently shown that modulation of cell death can be an effective means to control certain diseases and facilitate other beneficial outcomes. When combining our work with the ground breaking work developed by my colleague Dr. M. Karen Newell-Rogers, we are at a very exciting nexus of technologies and foresee breakthroughs in how we can manipulate plant growth with enhanced and useful traits. We believe this will provide high economic value to VG Energy and its customers.”

Haig Keledjian, VG LifeSciences’ CEO said, “Having Dr. Dickman join us at this juncture is a significant step toward the commercialization of our VG Energy technologies. His field of knowledge complements Dr. Newell Rogers’ work in a way that will bring us closer to commercialization of products in agricultural sectors that are more developed and more robust than the emerging bio-fuels markets. While we continue with our algal programs, this move into larger and more economically developed agricultural markets is anticipated to develop larger revenue streams sooner.”

Martin B. Dickman, received his B.S. degree in horticulture and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plant pathology from the University of Hawaii. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute of Biological Chemistry at Washington State University, he joined the faculty at the University of Nebraska in 1987 as an assistant professor, was promoted to full professor in 1997. He came to Texas A&M University in 2005, where he is the Director of the Institute for Plant Genomics and Biotechnology.

Dr. Dickman has served on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including Mycologia, Archives of Microbiology, and Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and is currently a senior editor for Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Plant Pathology; the second highest rated journal in the field. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Hawaii and the University of Nebraska Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Junior Faculty Recognition for Excellence in Research Award and is a consultant with the scientific instrument company ISCO Corporation and Idun Pharmaceuticals. For his innovative and creative research contributions, scientific leadership, and service to the American Phytopathological Society (APS) and the plant pathology profession, Dr. Dickman is recognized as a highly deserving recipient of the APS Fellow Award and EC Stakman Award. Recently he was named a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAS).

About VG Life Sciences Inc.

San Marino, California-based VG Life Sciences Inc., formerly known as Viral Genetics, discovers and develops drug therapies from two exclusively licensed platform technologies based on over 60 patents: Metabolic Disruption (MDT) and Targeted Peptides (TPT). A physician-initiated Phase I clinical trial of an MDT compound in combination with Nexavar(TM) on Stage III and IV ovarian cancer patients is ongoing at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center of The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. A majority-owned subsidiary, VG Energy (www.vgenergy.net), is dedicated to exploring biofuel and agricultural applications for the MDT platform. Founded in 1994, the biotech company is researching treatments for drug-resistant cancer, Lyme disease, Strep, Staph and Sepsis, and HIV/AIDS. For more information, visit www.VGLifeSciences.com.

About VG Energy

VG Energy Inc. is an alternative energy and agricultural biotech company that is a majority-owned subsidiary of VG Life Sciences Inc. VG Energy holds the exclusive worldwide license to the Metabolic Disruption Technology (MDT) patent rights for use in the increase of production of various oils from algae, plants and seeds. VG Energy’s pivotal discoveries could allow the biofuel industry to overcome its major obstacle in the area of production efficiency: namely, an increase in production yields leading to feasible economic returns on investment, allowing renewable biodiesel to be competitive with fossil fuels. For more information, please visit http://www.vgenergy.net.

SAFE HARBOR FOR FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties associated with financial projections, budgets, milestone timelines, clinical development, regulatory approvals, and other risks described by VG Life Sciences from time to time in its periodic reports, including statements about its VG Energy, Inc. subsidiary. None of VG Life Sciences’ drug compounds are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration or by any comparable regulatory agencies elsewhere in the world, nor are any non-pharmaceutical products of VG Energy, Inc. commercialized. While VG Life Sciences believes that the forward-looking statements and underlying assumptions are reasonable, any of the assumptions could be inaccurate, including, but not limited to, the ability of VG Life Sciences to establish the efficacy of any of its drug therapies in the treatment of any disease or health condition, the development of studies and strategies leading to commercialization of those drug compounds in the United States, the obtaining of funding required to carry out the development plan, the completion of studies and tests on time or at all, the successful outcome of such studies or tests, or the successful commercialization of VG Energy, Inc.’s non-pharmaceutical products. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements included in this release will prove to be accurate. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking statements included herein, the forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by VG Life Sciences or any other person that the objectives and plans of VG Life Sciences will be achieved.