Healthcare Industry News: cesium
News Release - January 27, 2010
IsoRay Hires Vice President of Research and Development
RICHLAND, Wash.--(HSMN NewsFeed)--IsoRay, Inc. (AMEX:ISR ) announced today that William Cavanagh has joined the IsoRay team as Vice President of Research and Development for IsoRay Medical. Mr. Cavanagh has an extensive background in bringing medical products to market for the treatment of cancer.Mr. Cavanagh has most recently been engaged in the research and development of dendritic cell therapies for cancer and infectious diseases. He served as Chief Scientific Officer for Sangretech Biomedical for the past six years where he oversaw the design and implementation of a novel cancer therapy. Mr. Cavanagh was responsible for study design, protocol development, establishing necessary technology, IRB approval, clinic and operating room procedures and the reporting of study results. Upon the licensing of the Sangretech technology to a U.S. development partner, Mr. Cavanagh oversaw the compilation and submittal of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. FDA. The immunotherapy candidate is currently slated to begin Phase I/II study in 2010.
Mr. Cavanagh began his extensive career in cancer treatment technologies in the early 1990s, when he helped lead research and development of a therapy involving the insertion of radioactive sources directly into the prostate for the treatment of prostate cancer (prostate brachytherapy). He has designed several cancer treatment-related studies, is listed as an author on 34 peer-reviewed publications, and is the listed inventor on a U.S. patent application detailing a novel treatment for cancer. Mr. Cavanagh has also served as Director of the Haakon Ragde Foundation for Advanced Cancer Studies in Seattle, Washington, where he led the research foundation in the selection of viable research projects directed at treating advanced cancers.
Dwight Babcock, IsoRay's CEO, stated “We are very happy that Bill has joined the team here at IsoRay. His extensive career in developing and bringing cancer therapies to market supports our strategy to expand the use of cesium-131 into additional treatment locations within the body. Bill will be directing our strategy and efforts moving forward and is working extensively with research and development, IsoRay sales, our physician and physics customers and complimentary companies to bring new products and applications to market over the coming year. Bill will also be responsible for developing a pipeline of new products once he has addressed the immediate opportunities for new clinical treatments with existing technologies.”
About IsoRay
IsoRay, Inc., through its subsidiary, IsoRay Medical, Inc., is the sole producer of the cesium-131 brachytherapy seed.
The cesium-131 seed offers a significantly shorter radiation half-life than the two other isotopes commonly used for brachytherapy, which results in a substantially faster delivery of therapeutic radiation, a theoretically improved radiation delivery against aggressively replicating cancer(a), and the potential for a reduced longevity of common brachytherapy side effects(b).
cesium-131 is currently used in the treatment of prostate cancer(c) and ocular melanoma(d), and now available for lung, head and neck and colon cancers.
IsoRay is based in Richland, Washington. More information is available about IsoRay at www.isoray.com.
(a) Armpilia CI, Dale RG, Coles IP, et al. The Determination of Radiobiologically Optimized Half-lives for Radionuclides Used in Permanent Brachytherapy Implants. International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 2003;55(2):378-385.
(b) DeFoe SG, Beriwal S, Smith R, Benoit R. Is there decreased duration of acute urinary and bowel symptoms after prostate brachytherapy with cesium 131 isotope? International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, and Physics 2008;72(S1):S317.
(c) Bice WS, Prestidge BR, Kurtzman SM, Beriwal S, Moran BJ, Patel RR, Rivard, MJ. Recommendations for permanent prostate brachytherapy with (131)Cs: a consensus report from the cesium advisory group. Brachytherapy 2008;7(4):290-6.
(d) Melhus CS, Rivard MJ. COMS eye plaque brachytherapy dosimetry simulations for 103Pd, 125I, and 131Cs. Medical Physics 2008;35(7):3364-71.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this news release about IsoRay's future expectations, including: the advantages of our Proxcelan cesium-131 seed, whether Mr. Cavanagh will be successful in continuing IsoRay’s research and development activities and implementing IsoRay's research and development strategies, whether such strategies and activities will result in new applications for existing products and whether such strategies and activities will result in new products, whether IsoRay will be successful in bringing any new products or applications to market over the coming year, and all other statements in this release, other than historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PSLRA"). This statement is included for the express purpose of availing IsoRay, Inc. of the protections of the safe harbor provisions of the PSLRA. It is important to note that actual results and ultimate corporate actions could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements based on such factors as physician acceptance, training and use of our products, our ability to successfully manufacture, market and sell our products, our ability to manufacture our products in sufficient quantities to meet demand within required delivery time periods while meeting our quality control standards, our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights, whether additional studies are released and support the conclusions of early clinical studies, patient results achieved when cesium-131 is used for the treatment of cancers and malignant diseases beyond prostate cancer, successful completion of future research and development activities, changing levels of demand for IsoRay's current and proposed future products, changes in laws and regulations applicable to our product both in the United States and internationally, whether later studies and protocols are completed and support the conclusions of the initial studies, and other risks detailed from time to time in IsoRay's reports filed with the SEC.
Source: IsoRay
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