Van Cutsem Joins Biothera Clinical Advisory Board
EAGAN, MN — January 19, 2009 — Gastrointestinal cancer expert Eric Van Cutsem, M.D., Ph.D., has joined the Biothera Clinical Advisory Board. Biothera is conducting clinical trials with Imprime PGG®, a non-chemotherapeutic drug that enhances monoclonal antibody efficacy through targeted innate immune cell activation.
Dr. Van Cutsem is currently Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Leuven, Belgium, and head of the division of Digestive Oncology at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg in Leuven.
"Professor Van Cutsem is a world renowned leader in gastrointestinal cancer and the pre-eminent oncologist in Europe,” said Daniel Conners, Biothera chairman and founder. “We are extremely pleased to have his guidance in the clinical development of Imprime PGG.”
Professor Van Cutsem obtained the degree of medical doctor at the University of Leuven, specializing in internal medicine. He is holder of the special chair Digestive Oncology at the University of Leuven and has a mandate as senior clinical researcher of the Fund for Scientific Research.
Professor Van Cutsem has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and more than 350 other texts or chapters in books on gastrointestinal cancer. His work has appeared in respected publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, JAMA, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Annals of Oncology, European Journal of Cancer and British Journal of Cancer and Gastroenterology. He is co-editor of the reference textbook on gastrointestinal cancer: Principles and Practice of Gastrointestinal Oncology: second edition, 2008.
Other members of the Biothera Clinical Advisory Board include:
• Roy S. Herbst, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine and Chief of Section of Thoracic Medical Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
• Jerome Ritz, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Professor of Medicine, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; and Director, Cell Manipulation Core Facility, Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center, Boston.
• Leonard B. Saltz, M.D., Member of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Attending Physician at Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, New York, NY. Dr. Saltz is also a Professor of Medicine at Cornell University’s Weill College of Medicine.
• Dr. Arkadiusz Dudek, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine and Director of the Clinical Trials Office in the Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation Division at the University of Minnesota.
• Michael R. Kurman, M.D., President of Michael Kurman Consulting and advisor to numerous pharmaceutical development companies.
• Richard H. Patt, M.D., President of Foresight Consulting, which provides medical imaging consulting services to pharmaceutical, medical device, managed care, and biotech industries.
About Imprime PGG
Imprime PGG is a novel immunotherapy that works in concert with anti-tumor monoclonal antibodies to activate a large population of the body’s innate immune cells to kill cancer cells. As a platform therapeutic in oncology, Imprime PGG has the potential to improve patient response rates for existing monoclonal antibody therapies in approved indications, create new indications for these drugs and enhance the efficacy of development-stage monoclonal antibody drugs.
Imprime PGG has demonstrated a strong safety profile in multiple Phase I clinical trials. Biothera is currently conducting a dual-arm, open-label Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial in metastatic colorectal cancer patients in combination with Erbitux with and without chemotherapy. Biothera is also commencing two Phase II studies in Non Small Cell Lung Cancer patients in early 2009. One trial will evaluate Imprime PGG in combination with Avastin® and chemotherapy and the other will study Imprime PGG in combination with Erbitux and chemotherapy.
About Biothera, the Immune Health Company
Biothera is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving immune health. The company is developing pharmaceuticals that target, direct and activate the innate immune system to fight cancer.
Contact:
David Walsh
VP Communications
Biothera, the Immune Health Company
651-256-4606 (direct)
dwalsh@biothera.com