TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 2015--
BioLineRx Ltd. (NASDAQ/TASE: BLRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical
company dedicated to identifying, in-licensing and developing promising
therapeutic candidates, today reported the establishment of a Scientific
Advisory Board (SAB) to provide insight and guidance on the Company’s
activities in the field of oncology.
The members of BioLineRx’s SAB include four renowned clinicians and
translational scientists in oncology. These include: Professor Aaron
Ciechanover, Ph.D., M.D., Head of Tumor and Vascular Biology Research
Center, the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute,
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; Jorge Eduardo Cortes, M.D.,
Professor of Medicine and Deputy Chair, and Chief of the CML Section of
the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas, MD Anderson
Cancer; Debasish Roychowdhury, M.D., President, Nirvan Consultants, LLC;
and Prof. Yosef Yarden, Ph.D., the Harold and Zeda Goldenberg Chair of
Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
Kinneret Savitsky, Ph.D., CEO of BioLineRx, remarked, “We welcome this
prestigious group of scientists to our newly founded Oncology Scientific
Advisory Board. The decision to form a SAB with a focus on oncology is a
direct result of the Company’s strategic decision, over the last few
years, to focus on the therapeutic fields of oncology and immunology. We
believe that the knowledge and experience of this impressive group of
key opinion leaders will be highly beneficial as we continue to develop
BL-8040, our lead oncology and hematology platform, for multiple
indications, and in the development and commercialization efforts of
additional future oncology projects.”
BioLineRx’s Scientific Advisory Board Members:
Aaron Ciechanover, Ph.D., M.D.
Professor Aaron Ciechanover
is currently a Distinguished Research Professor at the Rappaport Faculty
of Medicine of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, and the
co-Director of the Technion Integrated Cancer Center (TICC). Prof.
Ciechanover shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Professors
Avram Hershko and Irwin Rose, for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated
protein degradation. They deciphered the mechanism of conjugation of
ubiquitin as a proteolytic tag, described the general proteolytic
functions of the system, and proposed a model according to which this
modification serves as a recognition signal for a specific downstream
protease. Along the years it has become clear that ubiquitin-mediated
proteolysis plays major roles in numerous cellular processes, and
aberrations in the system underlie the pathogenetic mechanisms of many
diseases, among them certain malignancies and neurodegenerative
disorders. Consequently, the ubiquitin system has become an important
platform for drug development. Prof. Ciechanover also received the 2000
Albert Lasker Award and the 2003 Israel Prize. He is member of the
Israeli National Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences (Foreign Fellow), the American
Philosophical Society, the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) and of
Medicine (NAM) of the USA (Foreign Associate), the Pontifical Academy of
Sciences at the Vatican, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; Foreign
Member), and the Russian Academy of Sciences (Foreign Member). He
received his M.D. from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a
doctorate in biological sciences from the Faculty of Medicine at the
Technion, and did a post-doctoral fellowship at MIT.
Jorge Eduardo Cortes, M.D.
Dr. Cortes is Professor of
Medicine and Deputy Chair, and is also the Chief of the CML and AML
Sections of the Department of Leukemia at The University of Texas, MD
Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Cortes’ clinical interests focus on new drug
development and the management of patients with myelodysplastic
syndromes, acute and chronic leukemia, and myeloproliferative neoplasms.
Dr. Cortes has authored hundreds of peer-reviewed manuscripts,
abstracts, book chapters, and other medical publications. He is an
associate editor for Blood and serves on the editorial board of other
journals such as Journal of Clinical Oncology, American Journal of
Hematology and Clinical Cancer Research. In addition, Dr. Cortes serves
on the Board of the International CML Foundation. Dr. Cortes has
received numerous awards including The Service to Mankind Award from the
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Faculty Scholar Award from MD
Anderson Cancer Center for clinical research and for education. Dr.
Cortes received his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional
Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico City, along with postgraduate training at The
National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán.
Debasish Roychowdhury, M.D.
Dr. Roychowdhury is a leader in
the pharmaceutical industry with a strong background in oncology
research and development, and regulatory and commercial operations,
having previously served in key senior leadership roles at Sanofi,
GlaxoSmithKline and Eli Lilly. Dr. Roychowdhury played a key role in the
development and advancement of Seragon’s selective estrogen receptor
degraders (SERDs) platform for breast cancer and other hormone-driven
cancers. Dr. Roychowdhury has a distinguished track record in the field
of oncology having been involved in the approval of nine oncology drugs,
including Almita, Tykerb and Jevtana. Currently, he is President of
Nirvan Consultants, LLC and in this capacity he serves in senior
advisory roles for biotechnology companies to help advance their
pipeline of therapeutics. Dr. Roychowdhury also serves as a member of
the Board of Directors for Lytix Biopharma AS and Radius Health, Inc. In
his academic career, Dr. Roychowdhury served as a faculty member at the
University of Cincinnati. He trained at the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences and University of California, San Francisco.
Prof. Yosef Yarden, Ph.D.
Prof. Yosef Yarden is The Harold
and Zeda Goldenberg Chair of Molecular Cell Biology at the Weizmann
Institute of Science, Israel. Professor Yarden’s research focuses on
tumor progression and strategies to block cancer using molecular
targeted therapies. He served as Chair of the Research Committee of the
Israel Cancer Association, President of the Federations of Israeli
Societies of Experimental Biology, and Chair of the Israel National
Committee on Biotechnology, an advisory body of the Government of the
State of Israel. His past administrative responsibilities at the
Weizmann Institute include Dean of the Faculty of Biology,
Vice-President for Academic Affairs, first Director of the M.D. Moross
Institute for Cancer Research, and Dean of the Feinberg Graduate School.
Among Prof. Yarden’s honors and awards are the John F. Kennedy Award,
the MERIT Award of the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the EMET Prize in
Biochemistry, the 2008 Hamilton Fairly Award of the European Societies
for Medical Oncology (ESMO), the Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Award of the
MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Brinker
Award for Scientific Distinction in Basic Research. Prof. Yarden is a
member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. He is also a
member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the
European Cancer Academy and the Asia-Pacific International Molecular
Biology Network (A-IMBN). Dr. Yarden received his Ph.D. in Molecular
Biology from the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel.
About BioLineRx
BioLineRx is a publicly-traded, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to identifying, in-licensing and developing promising
therapeutic candidates. The Company in-licenses novel compounds
primarily from academic institutions and biotech companies based in
Israel, develops them through pre-clinical and/or clinical stages, and
then partners with pharmaceutical companies for advanced clinical
development and/or commercialization.
BioLineRx’s current portfolio consists of a variety of clinical and
pre-clinical projects, including: BL-8040, a cancer therapy platform,
which is in the midst of a Phase 2 study for relapsed/refractory AML,
has recently initiated a Phase 2b study as an AML consolidation
treatment, has recently initiated a Phase 1/2 study in hMDS and AA, and
has successfully completed a Phase 1 study in stem cell mobilization;
and BL-7010 for celiac disease, which has successfully completed a Phase
1/2 study.
In December 2014, BioLineRx entered into a strategic collaboration
with Novartis for the co-development of selected Israeli-sourced novel
drug candidates. The companies intend to co-develop a number of
pre-clinical and early clinical therapeutic projects through clinical
proof-of-concept for potential future licensing by Novartis.
For more information on BioLineRx, please visit www.biolinerx.com
or download the investor relations mobile device app, which allows users
access to the Company’s SEC documents, press releases, and events.
BioLineRx’s IR app is available on the iTunes App Store as well as the
Google Play Store.
Various statements in this release concerning BioLineRx’s future
expectations constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
statements include words such as “may,” “expects,” “anticipates,”
“believes,” and “intends,” and describe opinions about future events.
These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties that may cause the actual results, performance or
achievements of BioLineRx to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Some of these risks are: changes in
relationships with collaborators; the impact of competitive products and
technological changes; risks relating to the development of new
products; and the ability to implement technological improvements. These
and other factors are more fully discussed in the “Risk Factors” section
of BioLineRx’s most recent annual report on Form 20-F filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on March 23, 2015. In addition, any
forward-looking statements represent BioLineRx’s views only as of the
date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its
views as of any subsequent date. BioLineRx does not assume any
obligation to update any forward-looking statements unless required by
law.
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Source: BioLineRx Ltd.
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