PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- PrognosDx Health announced today that Frank P. McCormick, Ph.D., F.R.S., D.Sc. (Hon), Associate Dean of the School of Medicine and Director of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) has accepted to join as an ad-hoc advisor to the company. Dr. McCormick is also the current President-elect of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the David A. Wood Professor of Tumor Biology and Cancer Research in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UCSF.
Formerly, Dr. McCormick was Founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Research at Chiron Corporation and Director of Molecular Biology at Cetus a pioneering biotechnology company. Dr. McCormick’s current research interests center on the fundamental differences between normal cells and cancer cells that can allow for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
Dr. McCormick expressed his views on the uniqueness of PrognosDx’s scientific approach by stating: “An unprecedented transformation in our understanding of the heterogeneity of cancer, epigenetic determinants of patient outcome, drug resistance and responsiveness is taking place with global histone modifications on a cellular level at the core. These non-genic region associated chromatin biomarkers have been shown to be predictive of response to certain therapies and prognostic in numerous cancers, pointing to commonalities as well as possible new complexities in the treatment of cancer.” Dr. McCormick added: “PrognosDx Health is uniquely positioned to introduce products and services for personalized health solutions: 1) by helping physicians tailor therapy, 2) by aiding pharmaceutical companies overcome regulatory and clinical trial hurdles and 3) by providing epigenetic tumor profiling to identify drug combinations with desired efficacy profile, shifting global histone biomarker patterns towards improved outcome.”
Garry P. Nolan, Ph.D., Vice Chairman of the BoD at PrognosDx added: “We are delighted to have access to the considerable expertise and experience Dr. McCormick brings. Molecular diagnostics has heralded a sea change in patient management and health economics—with the potential to resurrect drugs once considered non-efficacious and to stratify patients towards better clinical treatment options. Dr. McCormick’s experience in moving drugs and companies across clinical hurdles-- based on clear understandings of drug and disease mechanism-- fits squarely with PrognosDx’ goals to link its proprietary measurement of epigenetic states of cancer to new classes of drugs that regulate global gene expression for patient benefit.”
PrognosDx’s initial commercialization plans surround offering CLIA-based laboratory testing services harnessing the predictive power of global histone modification patterns to address key unmet medical questions related to prostate cancer prognosis and therapy selection. The company recently announced that it has prepared a confidential list of therapeutics for which PrognosDx’s predictive biomarkers are likely to be effective for stratification of patient populations.
PrognosDx is in collaborative discussions with several companies and notable medical institutes to apply the company’s unique epigenetic tumor profiling technology for direct patient benefit.
PrognosDx has been primarily supported through experienced angel investors with keen interest in advancement of personalized medicine. The company is currently seeking to raise series A capital from private equity investors and venture capital firms in addition to continued support from its current angel investor.
To view PrognosDx’s technology summary and non-confidential clinical data please click here.
CONTACT:
PrognosDx Health
Kamran Tahamtanzadeh, 650-566-5068
Chairman & CEO
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America California
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Health Biotechnology Oncology Pharmaceutical Research Science
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