The role of General Counsel (GC) for a company can vary to some degree, but there are responsibilities and characteristics that are the same no matter what company or what industry. The General Counsel always oversees the activities of the company to ensure that any actions are performed within the extent of the law. In order to excel as a General Counsel, the person must have unwavering ethics, integrity and strong communication skills. A General Counsel is responsible for providing legal advice on all company endeavors and typically works closely with the CEO and the Board of Directors with regard to overall company planning and decision making.

George W. Evans worked for Pfizer Inc. from 1980 to 2006. He worked in a number of positions for Pfizer Inc. and recently ended his career there as General Counsel for Pfizer’s worldwide prescription drug unit, and a member of the unit’s leadership team. As GC of this unit, Mr. Evans was involved in strategic decisions to acquire other pharmas and oversaw company activities that generated billions of dollars in annual revenues. During his tenure, Pfizer grew to become the world’s largest pharma and eventually included more than 80,000 employees worldwide. Clearly, the position of General Counsel to an industry giant such as Pfizer is not easily achieved and is not only awarded with a nice compensation package, but also with a great deal of respect as a result of the individual qualities a person must possess in order to reach such high-ranking role.

So what does a man of Mr. Evans caliber do when he walks away from this position at Pfizer? “Look for a great opportunity” was his initial reply when asked. He continued, “I had a variety of options, but when Krishna [Dr. Krishna Menon, Chief Scientific Officer of Cellceutix] and I began talking about working together and growing Cellceutix, the opportunity was simply to promising to pass up. We knew that we would have a world-class Advisory Board and an experienced CFO in Leo Ehrlich. The concept of the possibilities of what we could achieve with Dr. Menon as Chief Scientific Officer and the portfolio of compounds I was shown, was a once in a lifetime chance to make a major impact on the world of biotechnology.”

Through these comments, Mr. Evans was referencing Dr. Menon’s more than 30 years in the industry as a pioneer in individual business endeavors and as a lead researcher for Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) where he was integral in the pre-clinical development of two blockbuster cancer drugs. The Scientific Advisory Board consists of Dr. Emil Frei III, a world renown oncologist who has held positions such as Physician-in Chief at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Chief of Medicine at the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Samuel Danishefsky who is a winner of the prestigious Wolf Award at Gilbert Stork and is a lead researcher for both Columbia University and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as director of the Laboratory for Cancer Research Bioorganic Chemistry. Chief Financial Officer, Leo Ehrlich, CPA, has more than 20 years’ experience at several senior level executive positions including being Chief Executive Officer for Nanoviricides (OTCBB: NNVC) during its climb from $.40 to $4.00. More on the Cellceutix team can be found on the Company’s website at www.cellceutix.com.

Given the backgrounds of the executive team that was assembled as Cellceutix Corporation began three years ago, it is a little easier to understand why George was so inclined to move forward after leaving his position at Pfizer. What is truly amazing is that he went from Pfizer, a company that in 2007 had total sales of $48.82 billion which accounted for profits of $10.56 billion, had assets valued in excess of $115 billion and employed more than 86,600 people, to an upstart company with zero revenues, total assets of less than $100,000 and three official employees. With many other opportunities presented, a person has to ask, “Why?” Mr. Evans answered, “The possibilities of what can be achieved with Cellceutix are very substantial. At only $.45 per share, our team believes that we and our shareholders will be handsomely rewarded in the years to come.”

Mr. Evans further commented, “When we stated Cellceutix a few years ago, we knew that we had all the pieces of the puzzle, but also were aware that it takes a significant amount of time and energy to develop new compounds, so we put together our business strategy and have been moving forward very rapidly and are seeing things that are extremely encouraging.” He continued, “In a relatively short time we have Kevetrin, our compound for multi-drug resistant cancers, nearing human trials; we are emerging as a leader in autism research with our novel compound, KM-391; and are actively seeking a developmental partner for our psoriasis compound, KM-133, which we expect to be reporting on those developments soon. So many things in biotechnology are speculative, and I am not the type of man to ‘dangle a carrot’ to try and spur excitement, but we have some major pharmas that are contacting us on a regular basis with interest in our compounds. Our team has a strong history of success and the industry knows that.”

In conclusion of the conversation, Mr. Evans expanded on the original question by saying, “So when you ask, ‘Why would I go for a small upstart after the security one of the world’s largest pharmas?’ I believe that the answer, as with any life-changing decision, is multi-faceted, but the basics of it comes down to believing that we could do something great for the industry, shareholders and patients in the world. So far, we are right on track.”