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Date: Oct 08, 2014 Source: Company Data (
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Siamab
Therapeutics
Appoints Robert Mashal
to Board of Directors
-
Receives SBIR grant focused on cancer stem cells
;
Research to be conducted
in collaboration
with
Massachusetts General Hospital
-
Newton
, Massachusetts,
October
8
, 2014
--
Siamab
Therapeutics
, Inc., a
biotechnology
company
developing
cancer
immunotherapies
, today announced
that
Robert Mashal, President & CEO of NKT
Therapeutics, has been appointed to the company's Board of Directors.
In addition, the company
has
received a
Small Business Innovation Research (
SBIR
)
grant
from
the National Cancer Institute (NCI)
for
the development of novel therapeutic agents that target cancer stem cells
(CSCs)
.
The research will be
conducted
in collaboration with
Bo Rueda
,
Ph.
D,
Director,
Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology,
Massachusetts General Hospital.
"
We look forward to working with Dr. Rueda and his research team, and are honored that the NCI has
awarded us this SBIR grant to develop therapies targeting cancer stem
cells
,"
said Jeff Behrens,
Siamab's
CEO. "
We are thrilled to have Robert join our Board. His diverse background and extensive experience with
emerging companies will be of great value as we continue to grow the company.
"
Dr. Mashal is President &
CEO of NKT Therapeutics.
Before joining NKT Therapeutics, Dr. Mashal was
President of Alinea Pharmaceuticals.
Prior to that, he was a partner at Boston Millenia Partners, a venture
capital firm where he focused on investment opportunities in life scienc
es. He served as a Director of
EpiGenesis
P
harmaceuticals, Novalar Pharmaceuticals, GlycoFi, Sapphire Therapeutics, CoApt Systems,
Protein Forest, and Cardiomems.
He was previously a Program Executive with Vertex Pharmaceuticals,
where he led cancer drug
development strategy and oversaw pre
-
clinical/clinical dev
elopment, marketing,
regulatory
and business activities. He was also a member of the Joint Research Committee for the $800
million Vertex
-
Novartis collaboration. Prior to that, Dr. Mashal served as
a consultant at McKinsey &
Company, and a faculty member and Attending Physician at Dana
-
Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham &
Women's Hospital, and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Mashal is a diplomate in both internal medicine and
oncology
and
a graduate of Joh
ns Hopkins University
. Dr. Mashal
received his M.D. from Johns Hopki
ns
University School of Medicine.
"
I am excited to be joining Siamab at such a critical stage in the company's growth and look forward to
providing support and guidance to the management
team," said Robert
Mashal
. "Siamab has
an impressive
technology platform
with tremendous potential for
developing
innovative cancer immunotherapies."
Under the SBIR grant recently awarded, Siamab will collaborate with Dr. Rueda's lab
to explore the
potent
ial of Siamab's technology to create anti
-
glycan antibodies that target specific p
opulations of cancer
stem cells and explore
the relationship between tumor associated carbohydrate antigens ("TACAs") and
CSCs
.
Siamab Therapeutics Appoints Robert Mashal
to Board of Directors
Page
2
of 2
"Targeting CSCs
represents
a promising
approach to the treatment of cancer," said Dr. Rueda. "I look
forward to working with Siamab to explore the potential of their agents to target and inhibit the growth of
CSCs."
Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subset of tumor cells that possess characteris
tics associated with normal
stem cells. Specifically, they have the ability to self
-
renew, differentiate and generate the diverse cells that
comprise the tumor. CSCs have been identified and isolated in several human cancer types, including
breast, brain,
colon, head and neck, leukemia, liver, ovarian, pancreas and prostate. These CSCs represent
a small percentage
of the tumor as a distinct population and cause relapse and metastasis by giving rise to
new tumors. While chemotherapy and other conventional ca
ncer therapies may be more effective at killing
bulk tumor cells, CSCs
are thought
to escape and seed new tumor growth due to the
ir quiescent and
chemoresistant properties
. Therefore, traditional therapies often cannot completely eradicate tumors or
preven
t cancer recurrence and progression to metastasis. With growing evidence supporting the role of
CSCs in tumorigenesis, tumor heterogeneity, resistance to chemotherapeutic and radiation therapies, and
the metastatic phenotype, the development of specific th
erapies that target CSCs holds promise for
improving survival and quality of life for cancer patients, especially those with metastatic disease.
About
Siamab Therapeutics
, Inc.
Siamab Therapeutics
, Inc.
is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer
i
mmunotherapies.
Siamab
has developed a platform of technologies that enable the rapid discovery and
development of therapeutic
antibodies that bind to a novel class of carbohydrate antigens present
on cancer
cells
,
tumor associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs)
.
Siamab has developed a patented set of
technologies to identify and precisely assay anti
-
TACA antibodies
--
enabling rapid discovery and screening
of candidate antibodies as well as character
ization of binding epitopes.
The company's lead program is in
preclinical studies for the treatment of solid tumors.
Siamab
's
corporate
headquarters
are
in
Newton
, MA
and laboratory
facilities
are
in San Diego, CA.
Learn more at
www.siamab.com
