AspenBio Pharma Joins Russell Microcap Index

Tag : Bio Performance

AspenBio Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: APPY), an emergingbio-pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of noveldrugs and diagnostics for humans and animals, has joined theRussell Microcap Index. The company became a member of the RussellInvestments family of U.S. indexes upon their officialreconstitution, made effective as of the market open today.
Membership in the Russell Microcap Index, which remains in placefor one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate growthand value style indexes. Russell determines membership for itsequity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalizationrankings and style attributes.
AspenBio Pharma president and CEO, Richard Donnelly, stated: "Weexpect our addition to the Russell Microcap Index will exposeAspenBio to a broader base of institutional investors and bringmore attention to our introduction of AppyScore(TM), the firstblood-based test for human appendicitis which we officiallyinitiated an FDA clinical trial for last week, as well as to ourrevolutionary single-chain animal reproduction products."
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers andinstitutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for bothpassive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4.4trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them.
Annual reconstitution of Russell indexes captures the 4,000 largestU.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total marketcapitalization to create the Russell 3000 Index and RussellMicrocap. These investment tools originated from Russell'smulti-manager investment business in the early 1980s when thecompany saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set ofbenchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers. Totalreturns data for the Russell Microcap and other Russell Indexes isavailable at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/daily_total_returns_us.asp .
About Russell Investments
Russell Investments aims to improve financial security for peopleby providing strategic advice, world-class implementation,state-of-the-art performance benchmarks, and a range ofinstitutional-quality investment products. With more than $213billion in assets under management, Russell serves individual,institutional and advisor clients in more than 40 countries.Russell provides access to some of the world's best money managers.It helps investors put this access to work in corporate definedbenefit and defined contribution plans, and in the life savings ofindividual investors.
Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern MutualLife Insurance Company. Headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., U.S.,Russell has principal offices in Amsterdam, Auckland, Johannesburg,London, Melbourne, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore,Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.
About AspenBio Pharma, Inc.
AspenBio Pharma is an emerging bio-pharmaceutical company dedicatedto the discovery; development, manufacture, and marketing of novelproprietary products, including those that enhance the reproductiveefficiency of animals and that have large worldwide marketpotential. The company was originally formed to produce purifiedproteins for diagnostic applications and has become a leadingsupplier of human hormones to many of the nation's largest medicaldiagnostic companies and research institutions. The company hassuccessfully leveraged this foundational science and technologyexpertise to rapidly develop an enviable late-stage pipeline ofseveral novel reproduction hormone analogs for wide-rangingtherapeutic use initially in bovine and equine species. AspenBioPharma continues to advance the development and testing of its twofirst-generation blood-based human diagnostic tests designed torapidly help diagnose or rule out appendicitis in patientscomplaining of abdominal pain. For more information, go to http://www.aspenbiopharma.com .
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" of AspenBioPharma, Inc. ("APPY") as defined by the Securities and ExchangeCommission (the "SEC"). All statements, other than statements ofhistorical fact, included in the press release that addressactivities, events or developments that APPY believes oranticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-lookingstatements. These statements are based on certain assumptions madebased on experience, expected future developments and other factorsAPPY believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Such statementsare subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties,many of which are beyond the control of APPY. Investors arecautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of futureperformance. Actual results or developments may differ materiallyfrom those projected in the forward-looking statements as a resultof many factors, including statements regarding any assurance thatinclusion in the Russell Microcap Index will broaden our investorexposure, or otherwise benefit APPY or its stock, the ability tosuccessfully complete the clinical trials and pivotal studiesrequired for FDA submission, obtain FDA approval for, costeffectively manufacture and generate revenues from the appendicitistest as well as the animal products under this agreement and othernew products, execute agreements required to successfully advancethe company's objectives, retain the scientific management team toadvance the products, overcome adverse changes in market conditionsand the regulatory environment, fluctuations in sales volumes,obtain and enforce intellectual property rights, and realization ofintangible assets. Furthermore, APPY does not intend (and is notobligated) to update publicly any forward-looking statements. Thecontents of this news release should be considered in conjunctionwith the warnings and cautionary statements contained in APPY'srecent filings with the SEC.