For Immediate Release September 22, 2010
VANCOUVER, Canada— iCo Therapeutics Inc. (TSX-V: ICO) is pleased to announce the appointments of Dr. Thomas Walsh, Dr. Coleman Rotstein, and Dr. Jack Sobel to the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) committee overseeing the development of iCo-009, iCo’s oral Amphotericin B program for life-threatening fungal and parasitic diseases. Drs. Rotstein, Sobel, and Walsh will join Dr. Don Buell, the Chairman of the iCo-009 SAB, formerly Senior Medical Director at Astellas Pharma Inc.
Thomas J. Walsh, MD
Dr. Walsh is Director of the Transplantation-Oncology Infectious Diseases Program of Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY. Dr. Walsh was previously a Senior Investigator and Chief of the Immunocompromised Host Section in the Pediatric Oncology Branch of National Cancer Institute. He serves in adjunct faculty positions at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the John Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Walsh directs a combined laboratory and clinical translational research program that is dedicated to the investigation of the antifungal pharmacology and chemotherapeutics, augmentation of host defenses, and molecular detection of invasive fungal infections in immunocompromised children and adults with cancer, stem cell transplantation, and other immunodeficiencies.
Dr. Walsh received his medical degree from The John Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. During the next ten years, he completed post-doctoral training with fellowships in Pathology, Infectious Diseases, and Medical Oncology with a central research focus on medical mycology. Dr. Walsh is board certified in Medicine, Infectious Diseases, and Oncology. His professional memberships include Councilor of the International Immunocompromised Host Society (ICHS), Co-Chair of the ICHS Medical Mycology Training Initiative, President-elect of the Medical Mycology Society of the Americas, Risk Group I Chair of the Bacteriology and Mycology Study Group, and Chair of the NCI Animal Care and Use Committee. The recipient of numerous awards for his teaching and mentoring, laboratory investigations and clinical research, Dr. Walsh has written extensively in the areas of diagnosis, pharmacology, Aspergillus, Candida, and selected emerging fungal pathogens and serves as reviewer or member of the editorial board of many leading journals. Dr. Walsh has trained and mentored more than 70 research fellows and students from 16 different countries.
Dr. Coleman Rotstein
Dr. Rotstein is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Toronto and Attending Physician at the University Health Network, Toronto, Ontario. He received a Bachelor of Science at the University of Toronto and earned his medical degree from the University of Calgary in 1976. Dr. Rotstein completed his specialty training in Internal Medicine at the University of Toronto and pursued further subspecialty training in Infectious Diseases & Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina from 1980 to 1983 [ABIM (1980), FRCPC (Internal Medicine 1981), Infectious Diseases ABIM (1982)].
Dr. Rotstein is currently the Director of Oncologic Infectious Diseases at Princess Margaret Hospital and Co-director of Transplant Infectious Diseases at the University Health Network. He is also former Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at McMaster University, past Chair of the Infectious Diseases Section of the Ontario Medical Association, former Co-chair of the Emerging Infectious Diseases Network, former Past-President of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada, former President of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society, and former Chair of the Clinical Trials Committee of the Canadian Infectious Disease Society. In addition, he has been elected a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Infectious Diseases Society of America. He is a reviewer for several international journals and was formerly Associate Editor, Review Section, for the Canadian Journal of Infectious Diseases and Medical Microbiology.
Dr. Rotstein has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers. His research interests have focused mainly on antibacterial agents, infections in cancer patients and other immunocompromised hosts as well as fungal infections caused by Candida organisms.
Dr. Jack Sobel
As the Associate Chairman for Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Dr. Sobel leads the Wayne State University vulvovaginitis clinic where he has been actively involved in studying all forms of infectious vaginitis and has developed a variety of new agents for diagnosis of vaginitis as well as strategies for managing refractory vaginitis due to both Candida as well bacterial etiologies. Dr. Sobel has served as a leader of the MSG Candida section for several years and is actively involved in the development of clinical trials for evaluating new drugs to prevent and treat invasive candidiasis.
Dr. Sobel’s research laboratory currently is involved in studies related to pathogenesis of vulvovaginal candidiasis and more recently has focused on the use of PCR diagnosis and molecular methodologies to study the natural history of vulvovaginal candidiasis.
Dr. Sobel received his M.D. degree from University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. He performed his residency in Internal Medicine in Johannesburg, South Africa and Haifa, Israel. He completed a fellowship in Infectious Diseases at the NIAID, NIH Bethesda, MD as well as at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Sobel considers himself a Candidologist rather than a general mycologist. His main interest relates to both invasive candidiasis and candidemia as well as superficial infections caused by Candida. Accordingly, he has written extensively and performed research over many years in the field of vulvovaginal candidiasis. He also has an interest in urinary candidiasis and continues to focus his clinical and laboratory research in both these forms of superficial candidiasis.
“We are very pleased to have such distinguished researchers and clinicians such as Dr. Sobel, Dr. Rotstein, and Dr. Walsh join the iCo-009 SAB,” stated Dr. Don Buell. “Their input and expertise will be highly valuable as we formulate a clinical program for iCo-009”.
About iCo-009
Amphotericin B is a highly potent agent with anti-fungal and anti-parasitic activity. Currently, only intravenous formulations are approved for treatment use. iCo-009 is an oral formulation of Amphotericin B. In animal models, oral administration of iCo-009 has been shown to result in blood levels that are comparable to a known IV Amphotericin B product currently on the market. In Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans rat models, iCo-009 has shown significant antifungal activity with no observable kidney toxicity. Recently published preclinical studies have demonstrated significant efficacy of iCo-009 activity in rat fungal models (Aspergillosis and Candida) and mouse parasitic model of visceral leishmaniasis. iCo-009 was invented by Drs. Kishor & Ellen Wasan at the University of British Columbia.
About iCo Therapeutics
iCo Therapeutics Inc. is a Vancouver-based reprofiling company focused on redosing or reformulating drugs with clinical history for new or expanded indications. iCo has exclusive worldwide rights to three products: iCo-007, moving into Phase II for the treatment of DME, iCo-008; a product with Phase II clinical history to be developed for severe ocular allergies and age-related macular degeneration; and iCo-009, an oral formulation of Amphotericin B for sight and life-threatening diseases. iCo-009 also represents a new drug delivery technology with the potential to reprofile other parenteral administered drugs to the oral route of administration. iCo was recently awarded a Gold Leaf Award as the Early Stage Company of the Year from BIOTECanada and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “ICO”. For more information, visit the Company website at: www.icotherapeutics.com
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Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements included in this press release may be considered forward-looking. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on iCo Therapeutics’ current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to iCo Therapeutics and relate to, among other things, anticipated financial performance, business prospects, strategies, regulatory developments, market acceptance and future commitments. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by iCo Therapeutics in its public securities filings; actual events may differ materially from current expectations. iCo Therapeutics disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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