Healthcare Industry News: Research Corporation Technologies
News Release - September 25, 2007
BiPar Expands Management Team to Advance Lead PARP Inhibitor Product Candidate Into Phase 2 Trials for Cancer
BRISBANE, Calif., Sept. 25 (HSMN NewsFeed) -- BiPar Sciences, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel cancer therapies, today announced that it has hired industry veterans Eric D. Malek as vice president of corporate development and Deborah A. Thomas as vice president for regulatory affairs."Over the last 12 years, Eric has played an integral role in clinical stage product partnerships involving major pharmaceutical and biotech companies and leading academic cancer centers and Debbie has been involved in the development of Avastin and Omnitarg, among other key oncology products, at Genentech," said G. Kirk Raab, acting chief executive officer and chairman of BiPar. "Their strong track records of success and experience will help as we begin Phase 2 testing of our promising lead compound, BSI-201, in three major cancers later this year and bring two more oncology compounds into the clinic next year."
BiPar is developing multiple compounds designed to inhibit PARP-1 (poly-ADP-ribose polymerase), an enzyme crucial to cell repair and upregulated in certain tumors.
Mr. Malek joins BiPar after seven years at Allos Therapeutics where, as vice president of corporate development, he played a pivotal role in shifting Allos' strategy to focus solely on oncology assets. He led the licensing effort to acquire both oncology products currently in their portfolio: pralatrexate, a novel antifolate currently in a registration trial in peripheral T-cell lymphoma, and RH1, currently in a Phase 1 trial for solid tumors. Before Allos, Mr. Malek held business development positions at Gilead Sciences, Inc., NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Ilex Oncology, Inc. and Research Corporation Technologies. He has an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Arizona and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Business School.
Dr. Thomas worked at Genentech, Inc. for almost 17 years, most recently as a senior director of clinical regulatory affairs, where she oversaw products moving from late-stage research and development into Phase 1 clinical testing. Before that, she served as a team leader for Avastin, Omnitarg and Rapitva in the product portfolio management department. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Thomas began her career in the pharmaceutical industry as a toxicologist at Syntex Research. Dr. Thomas received her Ph.D. in toxicology and her B.S. in microbiology from the University of Kentucky.
About BiPar Sciences
BiPar Sciences Inc. (http://www.biparsciences.com) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing a novel class of tumor-selective drugs designed to meet the significant unmet needs of cancer patients. The Company's lead product candidate is BSI-201, which is now in early-stage clinical testing for advanced malignancies. The Company will be evaluating the potential of BSI-201 in multiple cancers and expects to file investigational new drug applications on as many as two additional cancer drug candidates in early 2008.
Source: BiPar Sciences
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