Dr. David Sidransky Appointed Director of Champions Biotechnology, Inc.
14 August 2007 - 10:03PM
PR Newswire (US)
ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Champions
Biotechnology, Inc. (OTC:CSBR) (BULLETIN BOARD: CSBR) , a
development stage biotechnology company, announced today the
appointment of Dr. David Sidransky, Director of the Head and Neck
Cancer Research Division at Johns Hopkins University School of
Medicine, to serve on the Company's Board of Directors. Dr.
Sidransky is the largest shareholder of Champions Biotechnology.
Dr. Sidransky, 47, is a renowned oncologist and research scientist
named and profiled by TIME magazine in 2001 as one of the top
physicians and scientists in America, recognized for his work with
early detection of cancer. Dr. Sidransky is one of the five most
highly cited researchers in clinical and medical journals in the
world, in the field of oncology during the past decade, with over
300 peer-reviewed publications. He has contributed more than 40
cancer reviews and chapters. Dr. Sidransky is a founder of a number
of biotechnology companies and holds numerous biotechnology
patents. Dr. Sidransky has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of
Directors, and presently is a director of ImClone. He is a Vice
Chairman of Alfacell and serves on the Board of Directors of
Xenomics. He is serving and has served on scientific advisory
boards of MedImmune, Roche, Amgen and Veridex, LLC (a Johnson &
Johnson diagnostic company), among others. Dr. Sidransky serves as
Director (2005-2008) of American Association for Cancer Research
(AACR). He was the chairperson of the first (September 2006) and is
the chairperson of the second (September 2007) AACR International
Conference on Molecular Diagnostics in Cancer Therapeutic
Development: Maximizing Opportunities for Individualized Treatment.
Dr. Sidransky is the recipient of a number of awards and honors,
including the 1997 Sarstedt International Prize from the German
Society of Clinical Chemistry, the 1998 Alton Ochsner Award
Relating Smoking and Health by the American College of Chest
Physicians and the 2004 Hinda and Richard Rosenthal Award from the
American Association of Cancer Research. "We are very pleased and
delighted to announce that Dr. David Sidransky has been appointed
to serve as a Director of the Company" said James Martell,
Chairman, CEO and President of Champions Biotechnology. "Dr.
Sidransky is a creative, out-of-the box thinker with wide-ranging
academic and business background and extensive contacts with the
pharmaceutical industry, academia and government. His depth and
breadth of experience will be invaluable to us." Champions
Biotechnology is actively engaged in pursuit of additional
opportunities to grow and strengthen the company. About Champions
Biotechnology, Inc. Champions Biotechnology is a twenty two year
old publicly traded company that beginning in January 2007, changed
its business direction to focus on biotechnology. The Company is
engaged in the acquisition and early stage development of a
portfolio of new therapeutic drug candidates, in the acquisition
and development of novel technologies and in providing
administrative services in the field of oncology that the Company
hopes will improve methods of and approaches to disease treatment.
Champions Biotechnology plans to develop a portfolio of new
therapeutic drug candidates through pre-clinical trials and
possibly early phase ("first in man") clinical trials. If
therapeutic drug candidates reach this early stage of development,
Champions Biotechnology intends to partner with, sell or license
them to pharmaceutical and/or biotechnology companies, as
appropriate. Management believes this strategy will enable
Champions Biotechnology to leverage the competencies of these
partners or licensees to maximize Champions Biotechnology's return
on investment in a relatively short time frame. Champions
Biotechnology believes that this model is unlike that of typical
new biotechnology companies that look to bring the process of drug
development through all phases of discovery, development,
regulatory approvals, and marketing, which requires a very large
financial commitment and a long time, typically more than a decade,
to realize. In February 2007, Champions Biotechnology acquired the
patent rights to two Benzoylphenylurea (BPU) sulfur analog
compounds that have shown promising potent activity against
prostate and pancreatic cancer cell lines. In May 2007, Champions
Biotechnology acquired Biomerk Inc. a company focused on generating
a novel preclinical platform of human cancer tumor immune-deficient
mice xenografts (Biomerk Tumorgrafts(TM)). Biomerk Tumorgrafts(TM),
unlike standard cell line derived xenografts, are implanted
directly from primary human cancer tumors and never passaged in
cell tissue culture. Champions Biotechnology believes that these
xenografts more closely reflect human cancer biology and are more
predictive of clinical outcome. Champions Biotechnology has several
patent applications relating to xenograft models used for
identifying potentially active chemotherapeutic agents. Champions
Biotechnology believes that it as well as biotechnology and
pharmaceutical companies, as part of their drug discovery and post
marketing efforts, may benefit from utilizing services that are
more predictive and that might provide for a faster and less
expensive path for drug approval. These services will utilize
Biomerk Tumorgrafts(TM) to evaluate tumor sensitivity/resistance to
various single and combination standard and novel chemotherapy
agents. This press release contains "forward-looking statements"
(within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of
1995) that inherently involve risk and uncertainties. Champions
Biotechnology generally uses words such as "believe," "may,"
"could," "will," "intend," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," and
similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. One
should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements. Champions Biotechnology's actual results could differ
materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements
for many unforeseen factors, which may include, but are not limited
to, changes in general economic conditions, the ongoing threat of
terrorism, ability to have access to financing sources on
reasonable terms and other risks that are described in this
document. Although Champions Biotechnology believes the
expectations reflected in the forward- looking statements are
reasonable, they relate only to events as of the date on which the
statements are made, and Champions Biotechnology's future results,
levels of activity, performance or achievements may not meet these
expectations. Champions Biotechnology does not intend to update any
of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press
release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes
in Champions Biotechnology's expectations, except as required by
law. DATASOURCE: Champions Biotechnology, Inc. CONTACT: James
Martell of Champions Biotechnology, Inc., +1-703-526-0400
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