SAN MATEO, Calif., March 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing anti-inflammatory drugs for acute and chronic diseases, announced today the appointment of Drs. Alan Leff, Michael A. Matthay, B. Taylor Thompson, and Stephen Rennard to its Respiratory and Acute Care Clinical Advisory Board. “I am pleased that we have attracted such a highly respected group of physicians with pulmonary and critical care expertise and clinical trial experience to help guide the Company’s clinical development strategy, particularly in the pulmonary arena,” stated Robert S. Fishman, MD, FCCP, Senior VP Clinical Development. “Their counsel will be important to the company as we advance our first clinical product, A-001, a potent inhibitor of secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2).” A-001 is currently being studied for prevention of a severe respiratory complication of sickle cell disease, the acute chest syndrome. The Phase 2 IMPACTS trial (Investigation of the Modulation of Phospholipase in Acute ChesT Syndrome) is now open. IMPACTS will enroll up to 75 hospitalized patients, ages 12 through adult, at 15-20 centers of excellence in sickle cell disease. For more details, please visit http://www.impactstrial.com
Clinical Advisory Board
Alan Leff, MD is Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. He received his AB with honors in biology from Oberlin College and his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. His research focuses on the cellular pathophysiology of asthma and the maturational development of airway cells and tissues. He has an active research program aimed at defining the role of phospholipases in lung inflammation. Dr. Leff is Professor on the University of Chicago Committees of Molecular Medicine, Cell Physiology, and Pharmacology & Pharmacogenomics. He is the Director of the university’s GlaxoSmithKline Center of Excellence in Asthma. Dr. Leff was Editor of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine from 1994-99, and currently is Editor of Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. He is the author of 174 original research papers, 6 books and numerous book chapters and reviews. Dr. Leff has served on the scientific advisory boards of more than 40 biotech, pharmaceutical and device companies.
Michael A. Matthay, MD is Professor of Medicine and Anesthesia at the University of California at San Francisco and a Senior Associate at the Cardiovascular Research Institute. He is Director of Critical Care Medicine Training in the Department of Medicine and Associate Director of the Intensive Care Unit. He received his AB from Harvard University in 1969 and his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1973. Dr. Matthay received clinical training in Internal Medicine at the University of Colorado from 1973-76 and in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine from the University of California at San Francisco from 1977-78. He also received research training from the Cardiovascular Physiology Laboratory, University of Colorado in 1976 and the Cardiovascular Research Institute from 1978-79. He is a former Chairman of the Respiration Section of the American Physiological Society and served as a member (1995-2000) and chair (1998-2000) of the NIH Lung Biology and Pathology study section. He received an American Thoracic Society award for Scientific Achievement in 2002. He is a member of the American Association of Physicians.
B. Taylor Thompson, MD received his undergraduate degree in Physiology from the University of California, Davis in 1974 and his MD from the University of California, Davis Medical School in 1978. He completed an internal medicine residency and chief medical residency at the New England Deaconess Hospital in 1982 and his pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1985 where he subsequently joined the Staff. He directed the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship program until 1990 and has been the director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit since 1991. He is actively involved with clinical research and since 1995 has been the Medical Director and Co-PI of the NHLBI-funded ARDS Network Clinical Coordinating Center. He has served on or chaired numerous Data Monitoring Boards for the NHLBI and the pharmaceutical industry and has held three Investigational New Drug applications with the FDA. His other interests include computerized bedside decision support, pulmonary embolism diagnosis, and ICU process improvement. He is a member of the American Thoracic Society and the American Physiological Society.
Stephen Rennard, MD, is Larson Professor of Medicine at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Section. He also holds an appointment as courtesy professor at the UNMC Department of Pathology and Microbiology. Dr. Rennard received his bachelor’s degree cum laude in folklore and mythology from Harvard University in 1971 and his medical degree with honors in 1975 from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. Dr. Rennard had his internship and residency in internal medicine at Washington University, St. Louis. He served as a research associate at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, MD from 1977 to 1979, and then as staff fellow until 1984. After his tenure at NIH, Dr. Rennard accepted a position at UNMC as the Stokes-Shackleford Associate Professor in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Section. Dr. Rennard has written and published more than 300 articles. He is active in several professional societies, has served on the board of directors for the American Thoracic Society, Council of the American Lung Association, and was governor for the American College of Chest Physicians. He served on the American Board of Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Section, and was a member of the expert panel that prepared the global guidelines for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for the World Health Organization/U.S. National Institutes of Health Task Force.
About Anthera Pharmaceuticals
Anthera Pharmaceuticals is a privately-held pharmaceutical development company committed to world-class development and commercialization of promising clinical products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with life-threatening chronic and acute inflammatory diseases. In 2006, Anthera acquired worldwide rights (except Japan) to a series of clinical and pre-clinical compounds that inhibit the enzymatic activity of members of the phospholipase (PLA2) family -- a group of enzymes responsible for the release of arachidonic acid and subsequent production of leukotrienes‚ prostacyclins and other mediators of inflammation. These highly potent compounds inhibit novel‚ upstream steps in the inflammation cascade and have the potential to address a variety of diseases including: acute chest syndrome, acute lung injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, atherosclerosis, acute coronary syndrome, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and psoriasis. In order to efficiently commercialize this platform, Anthera has brought together a proven management team with extensive experience in licensing, clinical research, development, and commercialization of anti-inflammatory products. For more information please visit http://www.anthera.com.
Contact: Press Relations (510) 277-1208 pr@anthera.com
Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
CONTACT: Press Relations of Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,+1-510-277-1208, pr@anthera.com
