Experienced CMO to Oversee and Advance Clinical Oncology and Cachexia Programs OXFORD, UK – 8th May 2013 – PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. (PsiOxus), a development stage biotechnology company, today announced that Dr. Christine Wilkinson Blanc has joined the company’s management team as Chief Medical Officer. In her new role, Dr. Wilkinson Blanc will focus her efforts on overseeing and advancing PsiOxus Therapeutics’ clinical programs for oncolytic vaccine ColoAd1, and for MT102, a small molecule therapeutic in development for the treatment of cancer cachexia.
Dr. Wilkinson Blanc brings more than 20 years of oncology clinical research and medical affairs experience in the pharmaceutical industry collaborating on prominent clinical development programs, including: docetaxel and irinotecan at Aventis/Rhone-Poulenc Rorer; bevacizumab at Roche; and ridaforolimus at Ariad Pharmaceuticals. She also contributed significantly to the implementation of oncology research programs in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia while at Aventis International. Dr. Wilkinson Blanc previously served as Medical Director at GE Healthcare, where she supported the development and marketing strategy of diagnostic and functional imaging agents. Prior to joining PsiOxus Therapeutics, Dr. Wilkinson Blanc owned her own company, consulting to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry on a range of oncology programs.
“We are delighted that Dr. Wilkinson Blanc has joined our growing team at this critical juncture and will apply her extensive expertise in the field of oncology drug development to our exciting pipeline of therapeutics,” said Dr. John Beadle, CEO of PsiOxus Therapeutics. “As CMO, she will be crucial to rapidly expanding our clinical program for the oncolytic vaccine ColoAd1 in colorectal and ovarian cancer, as well as to the completion of our MT102 cachexia phase II programme.”
About PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd.
PsiOxus Therapeutics is an Oxford, UK-based development stage biotechnology company using non-traditional approaches to develop novel therapeutics that address cancer and other clinically unmet diseases. ColoAd1 is an oncolytic vaccine for the systemic treatment of metastatic cancer, which has demonstrated exceptional anti-cancer properties in late pre-clinical development and is now in phase I clinical development. MT-102 is a dual action Anabolic Catabolic Transforming Agent (ACTA) in phase II clinical development for the treatment of cachexia and sarcopenia. The Company is also developing treatments based upon the research phase vaccine platform PolySTAR, which combines recombinant viral vectors with polymers to shield them from the immune system, and the research phase adjuvant and immunotherapeutic platform PolyMAP, which combines polymers with synthetic adjuvants to significantly enhance the effectiveness of vaccines.Dr. John Beadle is CEO of PsiOxus. Dr. Beadle was previously a co-founder of PowderMed, which was sold to Pfizer, Inc. for more than $300 million in 2006. Dr. Michael Moore, the former CEO of Piramed, which was acquired by Roche in 2008, serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors.PsiOxus is advised by a distinguished Scientific Advisory Board that includes Prof Stefan Anker (Professor of Cardiology and Cachexia Research at Charité Medical School, Berlin and President of the Society on Sarcopenia, Cachexia and Wasting Diseases), Prof Andrew Coats (Norwich Research Park Professor-at-Large, University of East Anglia), Prof Len Seymour (Chair of Gene Medicine at Oxford University and Secretary General of the European Society for Gene and Stem Cell Therapy), and Dr. Kerry Fisher (an internationally-recognized specialist in molecular medicine, also of Oxford University).