




Healthcare Industry News: gene therapy
News Release - January 17, 2007
ImmunoCellular Therapeutics Announces Dr. Keith L. Black, Chairman, Department of Neurosurgery and Director, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, to Become Chair of its Board of Scientific Advisors
LOS ANGELES--(HSMN NewsFeed)--ImmunoCellular Therapeutics, Ltd. (OTCBB:IMUC ; "ICT") is pleased to announce today that Keith L. Black, M.D., has agreed to become Chair of its Board of Scientific Advisors.Keith L. Black, M.D. serves as Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery and Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. An internationally renowned neurosurgeon and scientist, Dr. Black joined Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in July 1997 and was awarded the Ruth and Lawrence Harvey Chair in Neurosciences in November of that year.
Prior to joining Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Black served on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) faculty for 10 years where he was a Professor of Neurosurgery. In 1992 he was awarded the Ruth and Raymond Stotter Chair in the Department of Surgery and was Head of the UCLA Comprehensive Brain Tumor Program.
Dr. Black pioneered research on designing ways to open the blood-brain barrier, enabling chemotherapeutic drugs to be delivered directly into the tumor. His work in this field received the Jacob Javits award from the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council of the National Institutes of Health in June 2000. Dr. Black, along with patients undergoing the first clinical trials of the drug RMP-7, was profiled in 1996 on the PBS program, The New Explorers, in an episode called "Outsmarting the Brain."
Dr. Black's other groundbreaking research has focused on developing a vaccine to enhance the body's immune response to brain tumors, use of gene arrays to develop molecular profiles of tumors, the use of optical technology for brain mapping, and the use of focused microwave energy to noninvasively destroy brain tumors. He has published extensively and has five patents issued or pending. Dr. Black was featured on the cover of Time magazine in the Fall 1997 special edition "Heroes of Medicine."
Dr. Black serves on the editorial boards of Neurological Research, gene therapy and Molecular Biology, Neurosurgery Quarterly and Frontiers In Bioscience. He was on the National Institutes of Health's Board of Scientific Counselors for Neurological Disorders and Stroke and was appointed to the National Advisory Neurological Disorders and Stroke Council of the National Institutes of Health from 2000 to 2004. He was also selected as a committee member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine Independent Citizens Oversight Committee from 2004-2006.
Dr. Black has a unique ability to combine cutting-edge research and an extremely busy surgical practice. He averages approximately 250 operations a year. His referrals come from as far as Europe, the Middle East, South America, Japan and Australia.
Dr. Black has had a keen interest in science since childhood. At age 17, he published his first scientific paper, which earned a Westinghouse Science Award. He completed an accelerated college program at the University of Michigan and earned both his undergraduate and medical degrees in six years. He completed his internship in general surgery and residency in neurological surgery at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor.
"Keith is brilliant, innovative and extraordinarily productive," said David Wohlberg, President and COO of ICT. "He is fond of repeating the aphorism: 'If you want to understand the artist, you study his art. If you want to understand God, you study the anatomy of the brain.' I would add, 'If your goal is to find a cure for brain cancer, you want Keith Black on your team.'" Through a grant of ICT stock options, for his serving as Chair of the ICT Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. Black will hold a significant equity interest in ICT.
About ImmunoCellular Therapeutics
ICT is a Los Angeles, California based development stage company that will seek to develop cellular therapies for the treatment of brain and other cancers as well as neurodegenerative disorders. ICT's initial focus will be on a dendritic cell-based vaccine for treating brain tumors, with a Phase I trial for its leading vaccine product candidate targeted for the first quarter of 2007.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" (statements as to matters other than historical facts) as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events, projections or results described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include without limitation the risk that Dr. Black may terminate at any time his position with ICT, the need to obtain and possible delays in receiving clearance to commence ICT's Phase I trial and other future clinical trials from the FDA and any medical center involved in the trial; the need to recruit suitable patients for the Phase I trial and other future clinical trials; the risk of losing the services of senior management personnel; the uncertainty of outcomes for the Phase I trial and other future clinical trials; the need to secure appropriate clinical supplies for the product candidate for the Phase I trial and other future clinical trials; and the need to raise significant additional capital to conduct pre-clinical work and clinical trials for product candidates. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in ICT's most recently filed SEC documents, such as its most recent annual report on Form 10-KSB, all quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB and any current reports on Form 8-K. ICT undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Source: ImmunoCellular Therapeutics
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