Loki Therapeutics Forms Scientific Advisory Board to Advance Development of "Childhood Vaccination"-Based Cancer Therapeutics
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LONG ISLAND CITY, N.Y., June 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Loki Therapeutics, an immuno-oncology company developing next-generation cancer therapeutics that leverage childhood vaccination recall antigens, today announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and the appointment of several prominent members, including Eileen O'Reilly, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Alan Forsythe, Ph.D., of Forsythe and Bear, LLC, a biostatistical consulting firm; and John McAuliffe, MD, Ph.D., F.A.C.S., and Jennifer Chuy, MD, both of Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Drs. O'Reilly, Forsythe, McAuliffe and Chuy will work closely with Loki's Founder and CEO Chris Bradley and principal scientist Claudia Gravekamp, Ph.D., to advance the development of the company's AWAKE™ platform, a potentially groundbreaking approach to cancer treatment that activates and redirects pre-existing memory T cells created during childhood vaccination to target and eliminate cancer cells. "We are pleased to announce the launch of our SAB with the expertise of these inaugural members," said CEO Chris Bradley. "The SAB will provide critical guidance to Loki as we advance towards Phase 1 studies designed to confirm the clinical potential of our lead drug candidate derived from our AWAKE technology platform. Our SAB's medical, clinical trial and regulatory expertise will be instrumental in guiding Loki as we develop therapies that harness the power of memory T cells created during childhood vaccination to generate a powerful and immediate immune response to solid tumors and metastases." Unique among immunotherapy approaches, Loki's AWAKE platform utilizes non-pathogenic microbes (attenuated Listeria monocytogenes) for the precise delivery of childhood vaccine recall antigens to tumor microenvironments and into tumor cells. Loki's lead program – AWAKE-LM-TT – capitalizes on the childhood vaccination for tetanus toxoid (TT) to trigger an immune response to solid tumors presenting the tetanus antigens. SAB Members Dr. O'Reilly received her medical degree at Trinity College (Dublin University) in Ireland. She completed her residency training in Ireland and fellowship training at MSK. Dr. O'Reilly's research and clinical activities focus primarily on pancreatic and hepatobiliary malignancies, and her research directions include integration of molecular and genetic-based therapies for the treatment of pancreas cancer along with development of adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapies and identification of biomarkers for therapy selection. Dr. O'Reilly teaches and mentors junior faculty, oncology fellows, residents and medical/other students and has numerous teaching and other awards. She also chairs several prestigious medical committees. Alan Forsythe, Ph.D. Dr. Forsythe held roles of increasing responsibility from 1991-2005 at Amgen, Inc., including as Vice President of Corporate Biomedical Information. There, he held direct responsibility for the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Health Economics departments, and was responsible for planning, organizing and monitoring the implementation of new ways to increase profitability by shortening the time to get products to market around the world while improving the quality of the material presented to regulatory bodies for approval. He also had global oversight of long-range development plans for current and emerging Amgen products with respect to biometrics, epidemiology and health economics, and reviewed and approved all protocols for clinical studies, as well as proposed clinical publications and presentations. Dr. Forsythe also previously served as Senior Vice President at Viratek, Inc., which is part of a $200 million pharmaceutical company, as Regional Director of Scientific Research at Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, as Adjunct Professor of Biomathematics at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical School and as Adjunct Professor of Preventive Medicine at University of Southern California (USC). He has helped author more than 100 publications. John McAuliffe, MD, Ph.D., F.A.C.S. Dr. McAuliffe's research focuses on tumor biology, dissemination, and therapeutics in pancreatic adenocarcinoma via tumor-associated macrophages. He is the principal investigator on research projects focusing on surgical education quality improvement. His work has been published in a number of peer-reviewed journals and books and has been presented nationally. He is board certified in general surgery and complex general surgery oncology and is a member of numerous professional societies. Dr. McAuliffe received his Ph.D. at the University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston and his MD from the McGovern Medical School in Houston. Dr. McAuliffe began his postgraduate training with a year-long fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, after which he trained at the University of Alabama-Birmingham Hospital. While there, he completed an internship and residency in General Surgery, becoming Administrative Chief Resident in his final year. He then completed a fellowship in Complex General Surgical Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Jennifer Chuy, MD She is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and oncology, and completed an internal medicine residency and a hematology/oncology fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine after earning her medical degree at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. About Loki Therapeutics Contacts Ingrid Mezo (Media)
SOURCE Loki Therapeutics |
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