FREDERICK, Md., Jan. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Vaccinogen, Inc., (OTC.QB: VGEN) a leader in cancer immunotherapy development, announced today that Peter Morsing, Ph.D., a 20-year pharmaceutical industry veteran, has joined the company as Head of Business Development.
“I’m excited to join Vaccinogen during the critical final stages of OncoVAX® development, and believe the company’s unique approach to personalized medicine will have a significant impact on the current cancer treatment paradigm,” said Dr. Morsing. “Vaccinogen is unique among its competitors by using a patient’s own tumor cells to induce an immune response against remaining cancer cells and prevent disease recurrence. It’s an extremely promising development that has substantial therapeutic advantages over currently available treatments which may be more toxic or ineffective for many patients.”
He added, “I am eager to apply my decades of experience in licensing and pharmaceutical development to help the Vaccinogen team establish a first-in-class monoclonal antibody library using immune cells collected during the upcoming OncoVAX clinical study. This will be a significant milestone for advancing personalized medicine and we hope to bring more optimal cancer therapies to the broader patient population by partnering with leading pharmaceutical and genomics companies.”
Dr. Morsing brings almost 20 years of pharmaceutical as well as business development experience to the Vaccinogen leadership team. Previously, he held roles of increasing responsibility with AstraZeneca, where he most recently served as Search and Evaluation Director and was responsible for identification and evaluation of novel therapeutic approaches to treat cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Also during his tenure with AstraZeneca, he was Licensing Director, Strategic Partnering and Business Development, leading global teams in the evaluation of external therapeutic licensing opportunities specializing in diabetes and obesity. Prior to these positions, Dr. Morsing also served as Portfolio Manager for the Second Swedish National Pension Fund where he was responsible for evaluating and managing investments in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. He holds a Ph.D. in Medical Science from Lund University in Sweden and formerly held academic appointments at Gothenburg University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Lund University. He also served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University.
“We are extremely pleased to have Dr. Morsing join our company,” noted Andrew L. Tussing, Vaccinogen’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “He will have an invaluable role identifying potential partners in the pharmaceutical industry and academia who could benefit from the large and unique library of human monoclonal antibodies we will generate in parallel with the Phase IIIb OncoVAX study in which we expect to start enrolling patients in the first or second quarter. His proven track record in pharmaceutical business development and commercialization of novel therapeutics will play a critical part of our success as we work towards our goal of commercializing first-ever patient-specific immunotherapies to prevent the recurrence of colon cancer and other challenging malignancies.”
About Vaccinogen, Inc.
Vaccinogen, Inc. is a cancer vaccine company that is clinically testing OncoVAX, a treatment designed to prevent the recurrence of colon cancer and potentially other solid tumors. It is a patented process that leverages a patient’s own live tumor cells to launch a broad immune response against minimal residual disease. The Company believes that OncoVAX, at an optimum dose and regimen, is the first colon cancer vaccine to demonstrate effectiveness in preventing cancer recurrence after surgical resection by addressing the diversity of cancer cells inherent to each patient’s tumor. Five clinical studies of OncoVAX, including a Phase III trial with the optimum dose and regimen, have been completed to date. The Company expects to begin enrolling patients in a pivotal Phase IIIb trial under an FDA Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within sixty (60) days of obtaining adequate funding. More information is available at www.vaccinogeninc.com.
Forward Looking Statement
Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “anticipates”, “believe”, “plan”, “intend”, “expect”, “likely”, “may”, “should”, “will”, and similar references to future periods. Vaccinogen has based these forward-looking statements largely on its expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the financial condition and/or operating results of our business. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties; particularly those risks and uncertainties inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics. In addition, these forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties outlined in our most recent periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. There are important factors that could cause actual results to be substantially different from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements. Vaccinogen does not undertake any obligation to update this forward-looking information.
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SOURCE Vaccinogen, Inc.
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