Biomarker Validation Specialists Step up Commercial Activities as HUNT IIICohort Recruitment is CompletedLEVANGER Norway April 23 /PRNewswire/

Biomarker Validation Specialists Step up Commercial Activities as HUNT IIICohort Recruitment is CompletedLEVANGER, Norway, April 23 /PRNewswire/ — HUNT Biosciences, thecommercial arm of the HUNT Study and associated biobank today announced theappointment of former GE Healthcare director Per Foss as its new CEO. Thecompany provides pharmaceutical and healthcare companies with biomarkerdiscovery and validation services. These are based on the unique HUNT Study,which for the past 25 years has gathered blood samples from the generalpopulation of the Nord-Trondelag region together with detailed phenotype andenvironmental data. Foss joins just as recruitment for the third phase, HUNTIII has closed, again with an astonishing high inclusion rate of 60%. Thiswill bring the total recruitment number of unique individuals to 135,000 andreinforce the core strengths in key public health areas such as cancer,cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obstructive lung disease, osteoporosis andmental health. More than 60 % of the participants have been screened twice,25 % have participated in all three surveys.”For both pharmaceutical and biotech companies, HUNT Biosciences isideally positioned to devise biomarker strategies across a wide range of keydisease areas,” says Foss. “The unique combination of biomedical andphenotypic information collected over the past 25 years from a generalpopulation rather than specific cohort promises rapid and effective biomarkerdiscovery and validation.”The HUNT Study operates as a satellite to the Norwegian University ofScience and Technology (NTNU).

Per Ivar Maudal, Executive Director forinnovation and industrial relations at NTNU and chairman of the board of HUNTBiosciences, welcomes the appointment: “For academic researchers HUNT alreadyprovides data on a large number of diseases observed in this generalpopulation.  A season passes and with it come awards We saw much that excited us and much that bored. Super Sunday’s passed and we found nothing much to super about them. However, we had the tightest title race in years and also an exciting relegation battle which saw Fulham do the unthinkable by staying up and Manchester United winning the league from Chelsea in second place.Money and power and the struggle for it was also a big part of the season. Of the 17 clubs to have played in the top flight both this season and last, Liverpool are merely one of half a dozen to be taken over by foreign owners since the start of 2006. All that striving and investment is giving rise to a tight rope EPL.Aston Villa, with Randy Lerner’s cash and Martin O’Neill’s acumen, have vaulted from 11th last season to sixth now. No matter how mixed a blessing Thaksin Shinawatra could prove to be, Manchester City have leapt from 14th to ninth.

There has been scant rapture at Upton Park, but West Ham, 10th, are five places better off than they were a year ago.Some, as a consequence, have had to suffer and the avalanche of money has been a factor in sweeping Steve Coppell’s side, who were eighth in 2007, back down to the Championship. The processes at work may be unattractive, undesirable or unsustainable, but the Premier League this year was an arena of intensifying ambition and intrigue. It cannot be anything else when so many rich men have put their pride and their cash on the line.So with that, time to hand out the awards to the men who are paid very high sums to entertain us week in week out. PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2007/08Cristiano Ronaldo Runner-UpFernando Torres MANAGER OF THE YEAR 2007/08Alex Ferguson Runner-UpDavid Moyes  TEAM OF THE YEAR 2007/08 GoalkeeperThe award goes to David James, keepers get better with age and at 38 James is proving this theory to be true.If he had sorted his composure out and a few other things earlier in his career he would have been David Seaman’s heir to the England throne, which has yet to be filled even after all these years.James broke Portsmouth’s club record for most clean sheets in a season as well as reaching the FA Cup final. James was also the only player from outside the ‘Big Four’ to be nominated for the PFA Player of the Year award. Of Note…Edwin van der Sar (Man Utd) Brad Friedel (Blackburn Rovers)Petr Cech (Chelsea) Pepe Reina (Liverpool) Chris Kirkland (Wigan) Marcus Hahnemann (Reading)  Right Back Bacary Sagna of Arsenal gets the nod after his debut season in the EPL. Wenger bought him from Auxerre last summer his injury along with that to Eduardo very much cost Arsenal a real shot at the title which is testament to how good this guy has been.Of Note… Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa) Alan Hutton (Tottenham) Wes Brown (Manchester United) Phil Neville (Everton) Central Defenders I am choosing Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand it is hard not to, I likepartnerships and Man Utd are lucky once more to have such a class act at the back which I feel many years of success can be built on.