Dr. Abbruzzese to add significant pancreatic cancer expertise to advance drug development
HOUSTON, Jan. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) (“Moleculin” or the “Company”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of oncology drug candidates, all of which are based on license agreements with The University of Texas System on behalf of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, today announced that Dr. James L. Abbruzzese, Chief of Oncology at Duke University has joined Moleculin’s Science Advisory Board.
“We are honored to have Dr. Abbruzzese, a distinguished medical oncologist join our Science Advisory Board,” commented Walter Klemp, Moleculin’s Chairman and CEO. “Dr. Abbruzzese is recognized as one of the world’s leading experts in the clinical study and treatment of pancreatic cancer and the addition of his expertise will be invaluable to our efforts on developing a potential treatment for pancreatic cancer.”
“Pancreatic cancer is a challenging disease and identifying new treatment options is a top priority,” said Dr. Abbruzzese. “Moleculin has two diverse and innovative technologies that may have the potential in treating pancreatic cancer. I’m looking forward to working with the Moleculin team to bring these technologies into the clinic.”
Dr. James L. Abbruzzese is the Chief of the Division of Medical Oncology at Duke University, and Member of the Duke Cancer Institute at Durham, North Carolina. Abbruzzese earned his medical degree with honors from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He also completed clinical fellowships in Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins and in Medical Oncology and Medical Oncology Research Laboratory of Neoplastic Disease Mechanisms at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Harvard Medical School. Abbruzzese has spent most of his professional career at M.D. Anderson, where he rose through the ranks to his current leadership positions as Chairman of the Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology and Associate Vice-Provost for Clinical Research.
Among his many accomplishments, Abbruzzese is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He has co-authored more than 400 research publications and currently serves as Chair of the Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee of the National Cancer Institute. View Dr. James Abbruzzese’s publications on PubMed:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Abbruzzese+James+L
About Moleculin Biotech, Inc.
Moleculin Biotech, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of oncology drug candidates, all of which are based on discoveries made at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Company’s clinical stage drugs are Annamycin, an anthracycline designed to avoid multidrug resistance mechanisms with little to no cardiotoxicity being studied for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, more commonly referred to as AML, and WP1066, an immuno-stimulating STAT3 inhibitor targeting brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and AML. Moleculin Biotech is also engaged in preclinical development of additional drug candidates, including additional STAT3 inhibitors and compounds targeting the metabolism of tumors.
For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.moleculin.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the ability of Moleculin’s drug technologies to show safety and efficacy in patients. Although Moleculin Biotech believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Moleculin Biotech has attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including ”believes,” ”estimates,” ”anticipates,” ”expects,” ”plans,” ”projects,” ”intends,” ”potential,” ”may,” ”could,” ”might,” ”will,” ”should,” ”approximately” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed under Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and updated from time to time in our Form 10-Q filings and in our other public filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
Contacts
Joe Dorame, Robert Blum or Joe Diaz
Lytham Partners, LLC
602-889-9700
mbrx@lythampartners.com