Dr. Robert Shepard Appointed Chief Medical Officer For Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals
Cranbury, NJ, March 8, 2010 - Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (http://www.cornerstonepharma.com), the private pharmaceutical company behind the experimental cancer drug CPI-613 and the Emulsiphan oncology drug delivery platform - announced that esteemed cancer drug developer and oncologist, Robert C. Shepard, M.D., F.A.C.P. has been appointed Chief Medical Officer (CMO).
Having held the title of Acting CMO for Cornerstone since November 2009, Dr. Shepard has nearly 40 years of experience in cancer research. Dr. Shepard, will continue to play a major role in the ongoing clinical development of CPI-613 and other drug candidates; CPI-613 is the first drug emerging from the Company's Altered Energy Metabolism Directed (AEMD) technology platform and pipeline.
"On behalf of our company, I am very pleased to add Dr. Robert Shepard to our full time medical staff and senior management team," remarked Dr. Robert Shorr, Chief Executive Officer for Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals. "Dr. Shepard's experience has already proven invaluable and I look forward to having him continue to compliment our senior staff as CMO, leading our various clinical programs."
Dr. Shepard has extensive experience and expertise in the clinical research and development of cancer drugs. He was graduated Magna cum Laude in Biochemical Sciences and Molecular Biophysics from Harvard College, followed by a year in the Harvard-M.I.T. Health Sciences Program, and later earned his MD degree in the Medical Scientist Training M.D.-Ph.D. Program at Duke University School of Medicine which included two years in graduate school studying immunology.
His fellowship training, in both hematology and oncology, was done at Tufts-New England Medical Center and the Dana-Farber Cancer Center, both in Boston, followed by a post-doctorate fellowship in Pharmacology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Shepard completed his medical internship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Additionally, Dr. Shepard was also a Medical Officer at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and was involved in the medical review of Avastin and Erbitux as well as other New Molecular Entity drugs (NMEs).
"In my relatively short time with the team at Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, I have found a professional home and it has certainly been a highlight of my career," said Dr. Shepard. "I am looking forward to my full time role as Chief Medical Officer working with both senior management and the R&D professionals, all of whom I have come to know as top innovators and leaders in their fields."
Dr. Shepard has extensively published in peer-reviewed literature, and was study co-chair for numerous Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) clinical trials in a variety of cancers. More recently, Dr. Shepard has been responsible for the complete clinical development of several drugs and immune therapies for several companies and has served as the Principal Investigator for drugs being developed by companies including Pfizer, Astra Zeneca, Merck, Bristol Myers, Schering, Novartis, Lilly, Glaxo and Roche.
Dr. Shepard is board-certified in oncology, hematology and internal medicine, and has held full-time academic appointments at Harvard University, Tufts University and the University of Virginia and part-time posts at Johns Hopkins University, the University of North Carolina and Duke University.
About CPI-613
CPI-613 is the first drug in a new chemical class that, through a novel mechanism, targets metabolic changes that may be common to many cancer types. Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals is currently recruiting patients with solid tumors to advance multiple Phase I/II human clinical trials of CPI-613, CPI-613 is being evaluated in a Phase I/II single agent trial for patients who have failed all other therapy as well as in a Phase I/II combination trial with gemcitabine in newly diagnosed or relapsed patients determined to be treated with gemcitabine. Pancreatic cancer, like many solid tumors, typically has a poor prognosis, spreads rapidly and often goes undetected in its early stages. CPI-613 has been granted orphan drug status by the US FDA for pancreatic cancer.
About Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals
Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held pharmaceutical company singularly focused on the discovery and development of innovative cancer therapies that exploit the metabolic pathways that are common to different cancer types but different from normal cells and tissues. This unique approach, i.e. understanding and addressing what is similar to multiple cancer types rather than the differences between each, offers a significant opportunity to make a profound impact on the clinical treatment of a variety of cancers.
Cornerstone's AEMD technology platform was established on cancer metabolism research performed in the laboratories of Paul M. Bingham, Ph.D. and Zuzana Zachar, Ph.D., at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY. Cornerstone has offices and laboratory facilities in both Cranbury, NJ. and Stony Brook, NY. For further information, please log onto http://www.cornerstonepharma.com.
For further information or to arrange an interview with Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals CEO Dr. Robert Shorr please contact Adam Mazur at (212) 843-8073 or email [email protected].