EMERYVILLE, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bionovo, Inc. announced today the appointment of Dr. Debu Tripathy, Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Women’s Cancer Program at the University Southern California, to the company’s Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Tripathy is a world renowned leader and researcher in the area of breast cancer.
“We are honored to have one of the world’s foremost authorities in the area of breast cancer join our Medical Advisory Board. Dr. Tripathy’s depth of knowledge in cancer biology and vast expertise in the design and conduct of multinational clinical trials for all stages of breast cancer will be an extraordinary asset to the company while we advance Bezielle and Menerba through clinical development,” said Dr. Mary Tagliaferri, Bionovo’s President and Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Tripathy states, “After 13 years of close academic collaboration with Drs. Cohen and Tagliaferri, the co-founders of Bionovo, I am very excited to join their prestigious Medical Advisory Board to further advance two of the most promising drugs for women’s health and breast cancer, namely, Menerba and Bezielle. As a clinician I am aware of the fear, risk and consequences of encountering breast cancer. Since the risk of developing breast cancer associated with hormone therapy use for menopausal symptoms is the number one reason women do not initiate hormone therapy, Menerba, with its indicated improved safety, has great potential to be a blockbuster drug in the near future. To date, Menerba, has proven to be efficacious in clinical testing and pre-clinical models indicate Menerba will not cause either breast or uterine cancer. "
Dr. Tripathy continues, “In addition, Bionovo’s Bezielle, for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, has enormous potential as a novel, oral agent with early signs of clinical efficacy coupled with excellent tolerability and exceptional safety. It is rare to see such early clinical success in an advanced breast cancer drug candidate. This is the sort of innovative therapy that the clinical community is urgently seeking.”
Dr. Debu Tripathy has recently been appointed Professor of Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California (USC) and Co-Leader of the Women’s Cancer Program at USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. He will hold the Priscilla and Art Ulene Chair in Women’s Cancer. Prior to joining USC, Dr. Tripathy served as Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He also served as the Director of the Komen/UT Southwestern Breast Cancer Research Program and held the Annette Simmons Distinguished Chair in Breast Cancer Research.
Dr. Tripathy has over 20 years of laboratory and clinical research experience. He was one of the pioneers that brought Herceptin through early and late stage clinical testing on behalf of Genentech to FDA approval of the first monoclonal antibody for breast cancer. He has received numerous prestigious awards, including the highly acclaimed Heroes Award, from the Breast Cancer Fund. Additionally, he has co-authored many books including “Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention” with world renowned physicians. Dr. Tripathy received his medical degree from Duke University School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Duke University and fellowship at the Cancer Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.
Bionovo, Inc.
Bionovo is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of safe and effective treatments for women’s health and cancer, markets with significant unmet needs and billions in potential annual revenue. The company applies its expertise in the biology of menopause and cancer to design new drugs derived from botanical sources which have novel mechanisms of action. Based on the results of early and mid-stage clinical trials, Bionovo believes they have discovered new classes of drug candidates within their rich pipeline with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Bionovo is headquartered in Emeryville, California and is traded on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol, “BNVI”. For more information about Bionovo and its programs, visit http://www.bionovo.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business of Bionovo, Inc. that can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, including uncertainties relating to product development, efficacy and safety, regulatory actions or delays, the ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection, market acceptance, physician acceptance, third party reimbursement, future capital requirements, competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Bionovo, Inc. is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
SOURCE Bionovo, Inc.
CONTACT: Media, Claire Fong or Tom Chesterman, both of Bionovo, Inc.,
+1-510-601-2000, investor@bionovo.com; or Investors, Joe Diaz, Robert Blum
or Joe Dorame, of Lytham Partners, LLC, +1-602-889-9700,
bnvi@lythampartners.com, For Bionovo, Inc.
Web site: http://www.bionovo.com/
