InVitro Names New Chairman

IRVINE —  InVitro International Inc. said it has chosen a new chairman for its five-member board of directors.

Irvine J. Gruverman is a venture capitalist who was instrumental in providing the company with a lifesaving bridge loan last year. He was confirmed as head of the board at the company’s annual meeting Friday, Chief Executive William Fisher said. The announcement was made on Wednesday.

Gruverman, a general partner for G&G; Diagnostic Funds, succeeds Fisher, who had been acting chairman since October, when Christopher P. Kelly, a co-founder and toxicologist by trade, resigned. The resignation came as the cash-strapped company was desperate for money to keep it solvent.

Gruverman led a consortium of venture capitalists that eventually poured $1.7 million into the company, which develops and markets test kits that make using laboratory animals unnecessary. Since then, Gruverman has been a financial and technical adviser to InVitro.

Fisher said he decided to relinquish his post as chairman because “I like the checks and balances of having someone different being chief executive and chairman. He’s a financial whiz and a strategically good addition to the board.”

In Wednesday’s trading on the NASDAQ market, InVitro’s stock fell 50 cents a share to close at $6.785.