HOUSTON, Nov. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Renowned cancer researcher Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr., has been named to the Scientific Advisory Board of Tanox, Inc. .
Bast is currently vice president for Translational Research at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, where he holds the Harry Carothers Wiess Distinguished University Chair for Cancer Research. Bast is responsible for facilitating coordination between laboratory investigators and clinicians to help link new discoveries with patient treatment.
“We believe Dr. Bast’s experience in the clinical applications of scientific research will be of tremendous value to us,” said Bing Yao, Ph.D., vice president of Research for Tanox. “He has a distinguished history of collaboration between the lab and the clinic for the direct benefit of patients, both as a physician-scientist himself and as a program leader. His knowledge and counsel can help us advance new therapies from idea to reality.”
For more than three decades, Bast has studied growth regulation in ovarian and breast cancers. His work has led to a number of important discoveries about the molecular and genetic changes that cause these cancers.
In 1983, Bast first reported the CA-125 blood test that is now used worldwide to monitor patients with ovarian cancer and is currently being evaluated in clinical trials for early detection. He also led a team of researchers at M. D. Anderson that discovered the ARHI imprinted tumor suppressor gene, which may provide a marker for monitoring therapy with novel drugs that increase the expression of silenced growth inhibitory genes. His group has studied mechanisms by which anti-tumor antibodies affect cancer growth and susceptibility to chemotherapy.
Bast is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., and he received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School in Boston. He currently serves on a number of international, national and regional cancer research committees and on the editorial boards of leading oncology medical journals.
About Tanox, Inc.
Tanox is a biotechnology company specializing in the discovery and development of monoclonal antibodies. The company develops innovative biotherapeutics for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases, inflammation, infectious disease and cancer. Tanox’s lead investigational therapy, TNX-355, is a humanized, CD4 antagonist antibody to treat HIV and AIDS. TNX-355 has showed significant antiretroviral activity in Phase 1 and 2 clinical testing. Tanox’s first-approved drug, Xolair(R) (omalizumab), is the first antibody approved to treat moderate-to-severe asthma. Xolair was developed in collaboration with Genentech, Inc. and Novartis Pharma AG and is currently marketed in the United States, European Union, and Canada. Tanox is based in Houston and maintains a manufacturing facility in San Diego. Additional corporate information is available at http://www.tanox.com .
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050207/TNOXLOGOPRN Photo Desk,photodesk@prnewswire.comTanox, Inc.
CONTACT: Steve Sievert of Tanox, Inc., +1-713-578-4211, orssievert@tanox.com
Web site: http://www.tanox.com/
