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PhytoMedical Continues to Strengthen Research and Development Team with Key Appointment.
PhytoMedical’s expanded research agreement with Iowa State University accelerates development of new class of compounds for type-2 diabetes.
Princeton,
NJ – March 26, 2007 - PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: PYTO) (FWB: ET6), today
announced the addition of Dr. Mark A. Bossie, a specialist in the
identification, development, and licensing of new pharmaceuticals and
therapeutics, to the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board.
“I’m very pleased with the addition of Dr. Mark Bossie to
the PhytoMedical team,” commented PhytoMedical President and CEO,
Mr. Greg Wujek. “Mark’s very special expertise with novel pharmaceutical compounds is particularly
helpful as we work towards expanding the Company’s drug discovery pipeline, while
continuing to move our new class of compounds for type-2 diabetes towards an Investigative
New Drug application with the Food and Drug Administration.”
By way of an expanded Sponsored Research Agreement with the
Office of Sponsored Projects at Iowa State University, PhytoMedical is continuing
further development of its novel, synthesized type A-1 'polyphenolic' compounds
- an entirely new, innovative class of compounds derived from cinnamon, shown
in published human and pre-clinical animal studies to favorably effect type-2
diabetes without side effects.
“We’ve established a growing relationship with Iowa State
University, in no small part, a direct result of the personal dedication and
professional research outcomes produced by our lead collaborating scientist at the
university, Dr. George A. Kraus and his talented research team,” continued Mr.
Wujek.
Dr. George A. Kraus is a widely published and acclaimed
Professor of Chemistry at
Iowa
State
University.
With over 250 publications in refereed journals, Dr. Kraus is distinguished as
a Sloan Research Fellow, an honor unique to those who have been identified and
credited by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation as research scientists who “…show
the most outstanding promise of making fundamental contributions to new
knowledge.”
Among his research interests Dr. Kraus has applied his
expertise to the development of new synthetic methods and their application to
the synthesis of biologically active natural products.
An estimated 300 new drugs of world-wide importance, worth
over $150 billion, still remain to be discovered amongst the 250,000 species of
higher plants found on earth, of which less than 15% have been investigated for
bioactive compounds. Presently, twenty of the best selling drugs come from
natural sources and 25% of all prescription drugs contain active compounds
originally derived from or patterned after compounds derived from plants.
With his primary research focus being the chemistry of
botanicals and the chemistry of bio-based products, Dr. George Kraus’ specific
research competencies directly apply to his work to synthesize PhytoMedical’s
naturally-derived compounds for type-2 diabetes.
“In pre-clinical research, our new class of polyphenolic
compounds have produced encouraging outcomes, demonstrating the ability to
successfully drop blood sugar levels, lower triglycerides, and reduce both LDL
and total cholesterol – all without reported side-effects.
“As we continue to build on Dr. Kraus’ ongoing efforts and further
the development of these compounds for commercial application, I expect to increasingly
leverage Dr. Mark Bossie’s expertise in molecular plant pathology, genomics, and
high throughput, mechanism-based screening,” concluded
Mr.
Greg Wujek.
Dr. Mark A. Bossie
Dr. Mark A. Bossie brings over 20 years of research
experience to PhytoMedical, and is a specialist in the identification,
development, and licensing of new pharmaceuticals and therapeutics.
Dr. Bossie received a B.S. degree in Biology from The
College of New Jersey (formerly
Trenton
State), and earned his PhD in
Microbiology and Molecular Biology at
Rutgers
University. Following his graduate studies, Dr. Mark
Bossie joined the Molecular Biology Department at
Princeton
University,
where he undertook and completed his post-doctoral research efforts.
Upon completion of his post-doctoral work, Dr. Bossie joined
Bristol Myers-Squibb, developers of the world’s most widely used cancer
treatment, Taxol®, a naturally-derived pharmaceutical
compound. At the company’s Pharmaceutical
Research Institutes in
Lawrenceville,
NJ, Dr. Mark Bossie worked as a
Consulting Scientist, engaged in the identification of novel therapeutic
targets and development of high-throughput screens for compound discovery in numerous
therapeutic areas.
Subsequently, Dr. Bossie accepted appointment as Senior
Research Scientist at the Plant Biotechnology Department at American Cyanamid,
and quickly rose to the rank of Group Leader, managing and leading research
teams in various projects, including compound discovery.
Dr. Bossie was a central figure in the establishment of
American Cyanamid’s most significant ventures into genomics-based discovery and
initiatives into the use of plant biotechnology outside of crop protection. Notably, Dr. Mark Bossie helped craft and
close the largest-ever biotechnology deal entered into by American Cyanamid, prior
to their acquisition by the world’s largest chemical company, BASF.
At BASF/American Home Products (formerly, American
Cyanamid), Dr. Mark Bossie increased the company’s biotechnology research and
development budget more than ten-fold, and was responsible for establishing and
overseeing numerous external collaborations, including multi-million dollar
genomics and bioinformatics programs.
Following the sale of American Cyanamid to BASF, Dr. Bossie
accepted appointment as Research Director at Icon Genetics, a biotechnology
company engaged in developing novel plant technologies targeted at the
production of therapeutic pharmaceuticals in plant-based production systems. Dr. Bossie oversaw scientific staff and integrated
their research efforts with labs in
Germany
, and helped establish
critical intellectual property and product collaborations for producing
therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.
Since the successful sale of Icon Genetics’
US
interests, Dr. Mark A. Bossie has provided private consulting in the areas of
biotechnology, and scientific and medical communications, working across a wide
array of therapeutic disciplines for some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical
companies.
About PhytoMedical
Technologies, Inc.
PhytoMedical Technologies, Inc. (OTCBB: PYTO; Frankfurt
Stock Exchange: ET6), together with its wholly owned subsidiaries, is a
pharmaceutical company focused on research, development and commercialization
of pharmaceutical products.
For additional information, please visit www.PhytoMedical.com
To receive future press releases via email, please visit
http://www.phytomedical.com/Alerts-Index.asp
To view the full HTML text of this release, please visit:
http://www.PhytoMedical.com/IR/PressReleases/20070326-1.html
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No statement
herein should be considered an offer or a solicitation
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changes in interest rates, inflationary factors, and
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release regarding our on going research and development
and the results attained by us to-date have not been
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be no assurance that further research and development,
and /or whether clinical trial results, if any, will
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that the necessary regulatory approvals will be obtained
or that PhytoMedical will be able to develop
commercially viable products on the basis of its
technologies. In addition, other factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in the Company's most recent Form 10-QSB and Form 10-KSB
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
These reports and filings may be inspected and copied at
the Public Reference Room maintained by the U.S.
Securities & Exchange Commission at 100 F Street,
N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You can obtain information
about operation of the Public Reference Room by calling
the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission at
1-800-SEC-0330. The U.S. Securities & Exchange
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at http://www.sec.gov. The Company
undertakes no obligation to publicly release the results
of any revisions to these forward looking statements
that may be made to reflect the events or circumstances
after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated
events. |
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