DGAP-News: Vita 34 sets course for accelerated growth in new business areas with changes in the Management Board

Vita 34 sets course for accelerated growth in new business areas with changes in the Management Board

- PBKM CEO Jakub Baran takes over from Dr. Wolfgang Knirsch as Chairman of the Management Board
- Tomasz Baran, member of the Management Board of PBKM, is appointed to the newly created position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) on the Management Board of Vita 34 AG

Leipzig, 18 March 2022 - Vita 34 AG (ISIN: DE000A0BL849; WKN: A0BL84), the leading cell bank in Europe, is setting the course for accelerated growth in its core business and accelerating development in its new business areas of cell-based drugs / viral vectors production (CDMO) and cell therapies (CAR-T therapies) with comprehensive changes of its Management Board.

With effect as of 22 March 2022, Mr. Jakub Baran has been appointed to the Management Board of Vita 34 AG. He is a founder and the Chairman of the Management Board of the Polish PBKM, which was acquired last year, and thus was significantly involved in the development of the former leading European stem cell bank. He takes over the office of Chairman of the Management Board from Dr. Wolfgang Knirsch, who is thus leaving the Management Board and the company by best mutual agreement. "Dr. Wolfgang Knirsch has had a significant impact on the success of Vita 34 and has led the company to new size and efficiency. For this achievement we would like to express our respect as well as our gratitude to him", underlines Dr. Alexander Granderath, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Vita 34 AG. "With Jakub Baran as our new CEO, we are ushering in a new era in the company's growth story. On the cash-flow-strong foundation of cell banking, we will rapidly establish ourselves with our expertise gained over years in the future markets of cell production and cell therapies and continue to grow at an accelerated pace."

Furthermore, the Management Board of Vita 34 AG will be expanded by the newly created position of Chief Commercial Officer (CCO), which will in the future place a special focus on the development of the sales and marketing strategy of the newly created product areas as well as strategic business development. Mr. Tomasz Baran was appointed to the Company's Management Board for the position of CCO also effective 22 March 2022. He, too, has been a member of the Management Board of the Polish PBKM since 2010 and in his role developed extensive sales and marketing strategies for addressing new and existing customers of the company. "Vita 34 is currently entering new markets that are just beginning to emerge, but are already growing rapidly," explains Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Alexander Granderath. "It is therefore strategically more than sensible to place a clear emphasis in the Management Board on customer acquisition and business development. Tomasz Baran brings exactly the experience from his work on the Management Board for PBKM that Vita 34 now needs in order to profit optimally from the enormous momentum in the industry."

Further information on Vita 34 AG, its subsidiaries and its range of services is available at www.vita34.de.

Contact:
Ingo Middelmenne
Investor Relations
Vita 34 AG
Phone: +49 (0341) 48792 - 0
Mobile: +49 (0174) 9091190
Email: ingo.middelmenne@vita34.de

Company Profile

Vita 34 was founded in Leipzig in 1997 and, following the business combination with PBKM at the end of 2021, is now by far the leading cell bank in Europe and the third largest worldwide. As Europe's first private cord blood bank and a pioneer in cell banking, the company is a full-service cryopreservation provider offering collection logistics, processing and storage of stem cells from umbilical cord blood, cord tissue and other postpartum tissues. Based on the expansion of its business model in 2019, Vita 34 also intends to store adult adipose-derived stem cells, as well as immune cells from peripheral blood and the development of immune cell therapies in the future. The body's own cells are a valuable starting material for medical cell therapy and are kept alive at temperatures around minus 190 degrees Celsius. Around 700,000 customers from more than 30 countries have already provided for their family's health with more than 850,000 units of biological material deposited at Vita 34.