Tengion Announces Change to Board of Directors

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Dec. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Tengion, Inc. (OTCQB: TNGN), a leader in regenerative medicine, today announced that Scott D. Flora, President & Chief Executive Officer at OmniGuide, has resigned from Tengion's Board of Directors, effective December 19, 2012.

"Scott has been a valuable asset to Tengion and his expertise in the medical and surgical device arenas has been an excellent resource for the Company over the last year," reflected David Scheer, Chairman of the Tengion Board of Directors. "We are very appreciative of Scott's service and support and we wish him well in his future endeavors."

"It has been a pleasure to serve on the Tengion Board and work with this outstanding team," commented Scott Flora. "The Company has made significant progress in the 14 months that I have sat on the Board and I look forward to watching their continued success."

About Tengion

Tengion, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, is focused on developing its Organ Regeneration Platform™ to harness the intrinsic regenerative pathways of the body to regenerate a range of native-like organs and tissues with the goal of delaying or eliminating the need for chronic disease therapies, organ transplantation, and the administration of anti-rejection medications. An initial clinical trial is ongoing for the Company's most advanced product candidate, the Neo-Urinary Conduit™, an autologous implant that is intended to catalyze regeneration of native-like urinary tissue for bladder cancer patients requiring a urinary diversion following bladder removal. The Company's lead preclinical candidate is the Neo-Kidney Augment™, which is designed to prevent or delay dialysis kidney transplantation by increasing renal function in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease. Tengion has worldwide rights to its product candidates.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements set forth above may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to: (i) plans to develop and commercialize its product candidates, including the Neo-Kidney Augment and the Neo-Urinary Conduit; and (ii) expectations regarding ongoing and planned preclinical studies and clinical trials.  Although Tengion believes that these statements are based upon reasonable assumptions within the bounds of its knowledge of its business and operations, there are a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ from these statements.  Tengion's business is subject to significant risks and uncertainties and there can be no assurance that actual results will not differ materially from expectations.  Factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, among others: (i) the FDA could place the Neo-Urinary Conduit clinical trial on clinical hold; (ii) patients enrolled in the Neo-Urinary Conduit clinical trial may experience adverse events, which could delay the clinical trial or cause the Company to terminate the development of its Neo-Urinary Conduit; (iii) the Company may have difficulty enrolling patients in its clinical trials, including the Phase 1 clinical trial for the Neo-Urinary Conduit; (iv) data from the Company's ongoing preclinical studies, including the proposed GLP program for the Neo-Kidney Augment, may not continue to be supportive of advancing such preclinical product candidates; and (v) the Company may be unable to progress its product candidates that are undergoing preclinical testing, including the Neo-Kidney Augment, into clinical trials and the Company may not be successful in designing such clinical trials in a manner that supports development of such product candidates.  For additional factors which could cause actual results to differ from expectations, reference is made to the reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The forward looking statements in this release are made only as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any intention or responsibility for updating predictions or expectations in this release.

SOURCE Tengion, Inc.