WaferGen Appoints Donald D. Huffman New CFO

FREMONT, Calif., Sept. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WGBS), a leading developer of state-of-the-art genomic analysis systems, today announced the appointment of Donald D. Huffman as the company's new Chief Financial Officer, effective today. Reporting directly to Alnoor Shivji, chairman and chief executive officer, Mr. Huffman will be responsible for the company's Finance, IT, Human Resources, Investor Relations and Facilities groups.

"Don Huffman is a senior financial and corporate development executive with extensive experience that will help drive WaferGen's success," said Shivji. "He is a proven life-sciences company builder and has been involved in raising more than $690 million in equity and debt financing for early to mid-stage bio/life science companies.  He has been a key participant in structuring and negotiating approximately $650 million in merger acquisitions and spinout transactions and has relevant experience in the genomics and medical device arenas, having served as an executive at companies with products in both."

"It is an exciting time to join WaferGen as the company is broadly commercializing its SmartChip System worldwide," said Mr. Huffman.  "I look forward to participating with the management team and Board of Directors to build WaferGen into a successful company dedicated to providing the most productive genomic analysis tools for biopharmaceutical companies."

Mr. Huffman brings more than 30 years of corporate development and senior financial management experience to WaferGen.  Most recently he was Chief Financial Officer at Asante Solutions, Inc., a late stage start-up medical device company, developing an improved drug delivery pump.  Prior to Asante, Mr. Huffman served as Chief Financial Officer at Guava Technologies, a high-growth medical technology company with domestic and international operations where he assisted in the collaboration that facilitated its acquisition by Millipore Corporation.  

As CFO of EndoSonics Corporation (now Volcano), a high growth $50 million manufacturer of medical devices, he assisted in completing a successful $43 million follow-on offering; the $65 million acquisition of another public device company to broaden the product line; and the $120 million IPO spinoff of a subsidiary while working to drive the company to profitability in this period.  He served as CFO at Microcide Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing antimicrobials, and Celtrix Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company addressing hormone deficiencies, where he worked with the Board and management teams to achieve successful merger outcomes valued at $440 million.

Mr. Huffman also served as CFO and Principal of Sanderling Ventures, a $900 million top-tier biomedical venture capital firm, where he was responsible for financial/administrative management of early-stage portfolio companies in addition to fund-raising, investor relations and participating in ad hoc teams to close financings and M&A deals, and assisting in raising a $420 million fund.

About WaferGen and the SmartChip Real-Time PCR System

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. is a leader in the development, manufacture and sale of state-of-the-art systems for genomic analysis for the life science and pharmaceutical industries.  The company currently offers the breakthrough SmartChip Real-Time PCR System, the next-generation Real-Time PCR system for discovery and validation of biomarkers, or gene expression patterns, on a single platform.  The SmartChip System is designed to provide accurate, highly sensitive and high-throughput gene expression profiling capabilities to researchers, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.  In addition, the company offers an innovative fee-based service for gene-expression profiling using the SmartChip System.  For additional information, please see http://www.wafergen.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements."  Such statements include statements relating to the expected benefits to the company of Mr. Huffman's appointment as the Chief Financial Officer of the company, statements relating to the planned growth of the company, statements relating to the expected benefits and advantages of the SmartChip service for gene-expression research, statements relating to the expected benefits and advantages of the SmartChip technology to other applications, statements relating to the expected throughput levels of the SmartChip Real-Time PCR System, and other statements relating to future events or to the company's future financial performance and are not historical facts, including statements which may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company.  Actual results may differ materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements.  Factors that may cause such differences include the risks that: (i) the company may be unsuccessful in commercially developing its products or in achieving market acceptance of new and relatively unproven technologies; (ii) the company will need to raise additional capital to meet its business requirements in the future and the company may not be able to do so on reasonable terms or at all; (iii) the company's proprietary intellectual property rights may not adequately protect its products and technologies; and (iv) the company expects intense competition in its target markets, including from companies that have much greater resources than the company, and there can be no assurance that the company will be able to compete effectively.  More detailed information about the company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the most recent Form 10-Q.  Investors and security holders are urged to read this document free of charge on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov.  The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE WaferGen Biosystems, Inc.