SAN DIEGO, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- OncoSec Medical Inc. (OTCBB: ONCS), which is developing its advanced-stage ElectroOncology therapies to treat solid tumor cancers, announced today two appointments to its clinical team who will lead the clinical operations of OncoSec’s ElectroOncology therapies.
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Punit Dhillon, OncoSec’s President and CEO, said, “OncoSec has been preparing for its three ElectroOncology clinical studies, which we will launch in the second half of the year, with our in-house leaders and top-tier clinical advisory panel. These new appointments round out our clinical team with additional strategic experience and resources with full focus on advancing these important skin cancer trials. Dr. Goldfarb is a pre-eminent leader in the field of ElectroChemotherapy and Mr. Kitt is a dynamic leader with numerous successes in effectively and efficiently managing clinical trials to completion. We welcome them to the OncoSec team.”
Dr. Paul Goldfarb,M.D., F.A.C.S., Medical Director
Dr. Goldfarb will be advising the Company’s clinical and regulatory affairs department on all clinical programs. He is a surgical oncologist who has been in private practice in San Diego for over 27 years and a practicing physician for over 40 years. He trained in general surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and in surgical oncology at the Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases and Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer in New York City, and focuses his practice on the surgical management of cancer. He is currently Clinical Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of California at San Diego, and Associate Medical Director of Oncology at Scripps Health. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles related to the use of electroporation to deliver bleomycin in solid tumors and other ablative technologies for the treatment of cancer. In addition to his private practice in San Diego, he is an active volunteer in the American Cancer Society, where he was on the national board after having been president of the California Division and the San Diego unit. He helped organize the first camp in California for children with cancer, chaired a committee that established guidelines for the management of common cancer, and organized a meeting to address the role of a voluntary health agency and a managed health care environment in California. Dr. Goldfarb has been a member of the Health Benefit Subcommittee of CALPERS, which reviews outcomes and outcome measures to be used in assessing the quality of health management organizations.
Dr. Goldfarb said, “I have treated and observed the frequently detrimental effects of the front-line treatment of solid tumors, which is surgery, in many thousands of patients over many decades. Physicians, patients and payors would welcome a new therapy to complement and ideally replace surgery by more selectively killing cancerous cells while being less invasive and more cost effective. I look forward to being able to champion OncoSec’s technologies, which have these attributes, and help guide them toward commercialization.”
Ernest Kitt, Executive Director, Clinical Operations
Ernest Kitt brings to OncoSec more than 15 years of industry experience in clinical research and operations. Prior to joining OncoSec, he managed clinical operations for early and late stage oncology programs for established biotechnology companies including Medicinova and Vical. Mr. Kitt has also worked in a management capacity for clinical research organizations (CROs), where he managed project directors, senior project managers and clinical research associates for domestic and international clinical programs.
About OncoSec’s ElectroOncology Therapies
OncoSec’s minimally invasive ElectroOncology therapies utilize its proprietary electroporation delivery system, called the OncoSec Medical System (OMS),which applies short electrical impulses to selectively targeted tumors and tissue in order to significantly increase the ability of anti-cancer chemotherapeutic or biologic agents to enter into cells. These treatments selectively destroy cancer cells while preserving healthy tissue. They optimize required dosage and potentially reduce treatment and post-treatment costs. The company has two medical paths employing its drug/device technology:
- OncoSec’s ElectroChemotherapy approach uses the OMS to enable significant uptake by cells of a chemotherapeutic agent which then selectively kills cancerous cells. As opposed to surgery, this therapeutic approach allows for treatment of the margin without removing healthy tissue, providing beneficial appearance, organ function and quality of life outcomes.
- OncoSec’s ElectroImmunotherapy approach uses the OMS to deliver a DNA-based therapy intended to induce a host immune response capable of killing cancerous cells. The objective of this therapy is to stimulate and recruit the body’s immune system to selectively kill cancer cells in a local treatment area as well as systemically in distant, untreated metastatic tumors.
About OncoSec Medical Inc.
Oncosec Medical (OTCBB: ONCS) develops novel ElectroOncology therapies that combine its proprietary electroporation delivery technology with a chemotherapeutic or novel DNA-based immunotherapeutics. Targeted local delivery of these agents is designed to achieve selective destruction of cancerous tumors while sparing healthy normal tissue, resulting in improved functional, cosmetic and quality of life outcomes. These therapies have achieved validating safety and efficacy data in early and late stage clinical studies of over 400 cancer patients. OncoSec’s clinical programs include three Phase II clinical trials. More information is available at www.oncosec.com.
This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements in this release that are not historical facts may be considered such “forward looking statements.” Forward looking statements are based on management’s current preliminary expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause our results to differ materially and adversely from the statements contained herein. Some of the potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those predicted include our ability to raise additional funding, our ability to acquire, develop or commercialize new products, uncertainties inherent in pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, unexpected new data, safety and technical issues, competition and market conditions. These and additional risks and uncertainties are more fully described in OncoSec’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward looking statements which speak only as of the date they are made. OncoSec disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date they are made, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SOURCE OncoSec Medical Incorporated
