HERZLIYA, Israel, Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- XTL
Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (NASDAQ: XTLB, TASE: XTL) ("XTL" or the
"Company"), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on
the acquisition, development and commercialization of
pharmaceutical products for the treatment of unmet clinical needs,
announced today that the Board of Directors has appointed two new
members, Dr. Jonathan Schapiro and
Dr. Dobroslav Melamed.
Josh Levine, Chief Executive
Officer of XTL, stated, "Both new Directors bring a wealth of
experience in the clinical development of pharmaceutical products
and will contribute significantly to the Company's efforts to
develop and capitalize on its two lead programs: hCDR1 for the
treatment of SLE (lupus) and EPO for the treatment of multiple
myeloma."
Dr. Jonathan Schapiro, 54, is
currently an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department
of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic
Medicine at Stanford University School
of Medicine and a Director of HIV/AIDS at the National Hemophilia
Center at Sheba Medical Center in Tel
Aviv, Israel. He has served as a committee member on the
United States Food and Drug Administration Antiviral Drugs Advisory
Committee and is a member of the World Health Organization Global
HIV Drug Resistance Network Steering Group. Dr. Schapiro is
on the organizing and scientific committee of international
conferences on antiviral drug development, clinical pharmacology
and resistance, as well as contributing to guidelines
publications. His research has appeared in major journals
such as Lancet and Annals of Internal Medicine. He has served on
the scientific advisory boards of major pharmaceutical and
molecular diagnostic companies and has been involved in the
development of multiple antiviral drugs over the last 20 years.
Dr. Schapiro has devoted his career to HIV clinical care,
research and education since completing his Fellowship in
Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine,
Stanford CA. He graduated
from the Ben Gurion University School
of Medicine and completed his Medical Residency at the Rabin
Medical Center in Israel.
"I am very excited to be joining the Board of XTL and helping
develop their hCDR1 asset which has shown some encouraging safety
and preliminary efficacy data in previous clinical trials," he
said. "Safe and efficacious drugs remain an important unmet medical
need for the large numbers of patients suffering from SLE
worldwide. Preclinical as well as clinical data generated thus far
suggest this asset is one of the most promising treatments for
lupus at this stage of development."
Dr. Dobroslav Melamed, 37, is a
biotech entrepreneur with over 10 years of experience in the life
science industry. He has demonstrated success in taking drugs from
the lab to the shelf by identifying target markets, planning
regulatory strategy, raising capital, executing successful clinical
trials and scaling up to commercial production. He is
currently establishing two companies involved in the development of
a treatment for Ebola and novel drug delivery. Until September 2014, he was the President of SciVac
(formerly SciGen IL), a high growth biopharmaceutical company that
develops, manufactures and markets recombinant human health care
biotechnology derived products, including vaccines. Dr. Melamed was
responsible for SciVac's operations, clinical trials and new
business.
Dr. Melamed is the co-founder of Periness LTD, a developer of
new drugs for male infertility and Oshadi LTD, a developer of oral
carriers for proteins like insulin. He has also been a researcher
at Bar-Ilan University's Male Fertility
clinic, where he assisted in the development of new drugs for male
infertility; and QBI, where he worked in the Pre-clinical and
Research Pharmacology Department establishing In Vivo models for
drug discovery and delivery.
Melamed earned a PhD in Biotechnology and a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Biotechnology from the Bar-Ilan
University, Israel.
"I believe that XTL's clinical assets offer a unique opportunity
to treat significant unmet medical needs in lupus and multiple
myeloma," stated Dr. Melamed. "I look forward to being involved in
successfully developing these assets together with the XTL Bio
management team."
About XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
("XTL")
XTL Biopharmaceuticals
Ltd., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the acquisition,
development, and commercialization of pharmaceutical products for
the treatment of unmet clinical needs. XTL is focused on late stage
clinical development of drugs for the treatment of lupus and
multiple myeloma.
XTL is a public company traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market
(NASDAQ: XTLB) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: XTL). XTL
shares are included in the following indices: Tel-Aviv Biomed,
Tel-Aviv MidCap, and Tel-Aviv Tech Index.
Cautionary Statement
Some of the statements included
in this press release may be forward-looking statements that
involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements,
we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking
statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. Please see the risk factors associated with an
investment in our ADSs or ordinary shares which are included in our
Annual Report on Form 20-F as filed with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission on April 2,
2014.
Investor Contacts:
Jeffrey Goldberger / Garth Russell
KCSA Strategic Communications
Phone: 212-896-1249 / 212-896-1250
Email: jgoldberger@kcsa.com / grussell@kcsa.com
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SOURCE XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.