Vortex Biosciences Appoints Experts to New SAB

RNS Number : 5166H

NetScientific PLC

18 August 2016

 

("NetScientific" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Vortex Biosciences Appoints Leading Experts to Newly Formed Scientific Advisory Board

London, UK - 18 August 2016 - NetScientific plc ("NetScientific", AIM:NSCI), the transatlantic biomedical and healthcare technology  group, announces that its portfolio company Vortex Biosciences has made a number of appointments to its newly formed Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

Commenting on the appointment, NetScientific's Chief Executive Officer, Francois R. Martelet, said: "This world class Scientific Advisory Board, chaired by Dr. Massimo Cristofanilli, will play a crucial role providing strategic and clinical guidance to Vortex Biosciences as the Company's circulating tumor cell enrichment system, the VTX-1, moves towards commercialisation."

Vortex Bioscience's press release follows:

Vortex Biosciences Appoints Leading Experts to Newly Formed Scientific Advisory Board

Distinguished Clinicians and Bioengineers to Provide Perspective on Research and Development of Next Generation Circulating Tumor Cell Enrichment System

MENLO PARK, CA, August 18, 2016 - Vortex Biosciences, provider of circulating tumor cell (CTC) enrichment systems, today announced the appointment of leading experts to its newly formed Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB's mission will be to provide valuable scientific and clinical insights, along with strategic guidance in decision-making to support the development and commercialization of Vortex's CTC enrichment system for both the research and diagnostic markets.

The members of Vortex Bioscience's SAB include:

·     Massimo Cristofanilli, M.D., Associate Director for Translational Research and Precision Medicine and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine.

·     Jonathan Goldman, Director of Clinical Trials in Thoracic Oncology and the Associate Director of Drug Development at UCLA Health;

·     Stanley Frankel, M.D., Corporate Vice President, Head, Immuno-oncology Clinical Research & Development, Celgene; and

·     Dino Di Carlo, Ph. D., Director, Cancer Nanotechnology Program Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and Professor in the Department of Bioengineering, UCLA.

"We are thrilled to have attracted some of the world's leading experts in circulating tumor cells, oncology, clinical trials and microfluidics to help us define our clinical strategy as we commercialize our next generation CTC enrichment system, the VTX-1," said Gene Walther, Chief Executive Officer of Vortex Biosciences "The formation of our SAB serves as an endorsement of the scientific and clinical enthusiasm for the Vortex technology."

Vortex Biosciences Scientific Advisory Board members:

Massimo Cristofanilli, MD, an expert in the translational research and treatment of patients with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), is the Associate Director for Translational Research and Precision Medicine and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology at the Robert H Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, Northwestern University-Feinberg School of Medicine. Dr. Cristofanilli has led the development of novel diagnostic and prognostic markers in primary and metastatic breast cancer. His paper in the New England Journal of Medicine opened up the liquid biopsy field showing the prognostic importance of CTCs in breast cancer with the CellSearch system. In his research and academic role he is focused on advancing a patient-centered, biology driven model of cancer care; combining sophisticated tissue and blood-based molecular diagnostic technologies and innovative treatments. Prior to joining the Lurie Cancer Center, Dr. Cristofanilli was Director of the Breast Care Center and Deputy Director for Translational Research at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University. He previously served as Chair of the Department of Medical Oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, and Executive Director of the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Program and Clinic at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Stanley Frankel, M.D., is an internationally recognized expert in the treatment of hematologic malignancies including ALL and lymphoma. He is currently the Corporate Vice President, Head of Immuno-oncology, Clinical Research and Development at Celgene. Through 2014 he served as Executive Director, Medical Sciences; Early Development, Oncology Therapeutic Area Head at Amgen. Among his primary responsibilities at Amgen were the clinical development of bispecific T cell engaging antibody constructs (BiTE®s) including blinatumomab. Prior experience includes roles as Vice President, Clinical Develoment at Micromet, Clinical Director and Clinical Science Leader at Hoffman-LaRoche; Executive Director for US External Scientific Affairs and Senior Director, Clinical Research at Merck. Dr. Frankel chaired the  Zolinza Product Development Team and led the clinical efforts for the successful approval of Zolinza in 2006. From 2001-2004, he was Director, Medical Operations, at Genta, Inc working on Genasense. Prior to joining Genta, Dr. Frankel was Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore Greenebaum Cancer Center. He was previously on  the faculty at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, NY and the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University. In addition to his contributions to the approval of Blincyto and Zolinza, Dr. Frankel worked as an academic investigator on the development of 11 other approved oncology drugs including Vesanoid and Trisenox for acute promyelocytic leukemia, Rituxan, Zevalin, Bexxar for CD20 expressing malignancies, Neulasta, Kepivance, Mylotarg, and Gleevec.

Jonathan Goldman, M.D., is the Director of Clinical Trials in Thoracic Oncology and the Associate Director of Drug Development at UCLA Health. He completed his residency at UCSF and his fellowship in Hematology/Oncology at UCLA. His research focuses on cancer drug development with an emphasis on treatment for thoracic malignancies. In his role as the Director of Clinical Trials, he is working to develop novel anti-cancer drugs that have been identified in the lab and investigate their toxicity and efficacy with patients in the clinic. Most recently he has been conducting trials that look at the effect of combination therapies of EGFR inhibitors like Rociletinib and PDL-1 inhibitors like Atezolizumab in EGFR-mutant NSCLC. Clinically, he cares for patients with many types of cancer, with a particular focus on treating lung cancer. He is always looking for new approaches to improve the efficiency of clinical trials. In collaboration with other departments, he has developed novel laboratory and radiographic techniques to aid in both patient stratification and patient monitoring. He received his degree from Harvard University and his M.D. from Stanford Medical School.

Dino Di Carlo has been on the faculty in the Department of Bioengineering at UCLA since 2008 where he pioneered using inertial fluid dynamic effects for the control, separation, and analysis of cells in microfluidic devices. He is currently Director of the Cancer Nanotechnology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He directs the Microfluidic Biotechnology Laboratory with work that extends into numerous fields of biomedicine and biotechnology including cell separation and analysis, directed evolution, nano-magnetic cell analysis and control, new amplified molecular assays, next generation biomaterials, and phenotypic drug screening. Among other honors he received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) was elected a Fellow the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC). He also has been honored by academic societies across a range of fields with the Pioneers of Miniaturization Prize, the Materials Research Society (MRS) Outstanding Young Investigator Award and the Analytical Chemistry Young Innovator Award. He was awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development award, the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, and the Packard Fellowship. His translational research was also supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award and Coulter Translational Research Award.

About Vortex Biosciences

Vortex Biosciences is a cancer research and diagnostics company that integrates cancer biology, microfluidic engineering and informatics to develop tools for isolating and characterizing circulating tumor cells. The Vortex VTX-1 instrument harvests intact circulating tumor cells from whole blood samples for use in downstream research and clinical applications such as patient stratification in clinical trials, monitoring disease progression and drug treatment effectiveness. With a mission to enable noninvasive diagnosis of cancer and real-time monitoring throughout a patient's treatment, Vortex is at the forefront of accelerating cancer research and improving patient outcomes. Vortex is a core subsidiary of NetScientific plc, a transatlantic healthcare technology group with an investment strategy focused on sourcing, funding and commercializing technologies that significantly improve the health and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more information, visit www.vortexbiosciences.com.

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For more information, please contact:

NetScientific François R. Martelet, M.D., CEO Ian Postlethwaite, CFO	Tel: [phone]
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (NOMAD and broker) Jonathan Senior / David Arch / Ben Maddison	Tel: [phone]
Consilium Strategic Communications Mary-Jane Elliott / Chris Gardner / Jessica Hodgson / Chris Welsh / Laura Thornton	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

About NetScientific Plc

NetScientific is a transatlantic healthcare technology group with an investment strategy focused on sourcing, funding and commercialising technologies that significantly improve the health and well-being of people with chronic diseases. For more information, please visit the website at www.netscientific.net.

 

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