SAN DIEGO and PENNINGTON, N.J., Aug.
28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OncoSec Medical Incorporated
(OncoSec) (NASDAQ:ONCS), a company developing intratumoral cancer
immunotherapies, today announced an enhancement to the company's
medical and clinical leadership with the appointment of
Alain Algazi, MD to the position of
Clinical Strategic Advisor. A leading expert in melanoma and
oncology research, Dr. Algazi will advise OncoSec on its current
clinical programs and research initiatives, including the rapidly
advancing PISCES/KEYNOTE-695 Phase 2b
clinical trial, which is evaluating the use of TAVO (tavokinogene
telseplasmid) in combination with KEYTRUDA® (pembrolizumab) for the
treatment of metastatic melanoma.
In addition to his clinical experience treating patients with
high-risk and advanced melanoma, Dr. Algazi is widely recognized
for his leadership in melanoma research and for helping to grow the
Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program at University
of California, San Francisco (UCSF) into one of the
preeminent programs for advanced care for patients with all stages
of melanoma. As an academic collaborator and the principal
investigator for several of OncoSec's pivotal trials, he has also
been instrumental in the development of OncoSec's melanoma pipeline
and the advancement of TAVO as a potential treatment for multiple
cancer indications, either as a monotherapy or in combination with
leading checkpoint inhibitors.
"Alain has been very instrumental to the growth and success of
OncoSec and the advancement of TAVO as a potential best-in-class
cytokine-based intratumoral immunotherapy," said Sharron Gargosky,
Chief Clinical Officer of OncoSec. "In elevating his role at
OncoSec, we have the opportunity to further benefit from his
extensive knowledge of melanoma and oncology as both a practitioner
and researcher, as well as his deep understanding of TAVO and its
ability to stimulate the body's immune system to target and attack
cancer."
Dr. Algazi, a member of OncoSec's Clinical Advisory Board, was
the lead investigator on the OMS-102 clinical trial, which is an
open-label, Phase 2 multicenter study of TAVO in combination with
pembrolizumab in melanoma patients with immunologically cold
tumors. As Clinical Strategic Advisor, Dr. Algazi will assume
an even broader role, providing medical expertise and strategic
guidance on all of OncoSec's clinical trials.
Dr. Alain Algazi, an oncologist,
is an Associate Professor at the UCSF Helen Diller Family
Comprehensive Cancer Center. He treats patients with advanced
cancers of the head and neck as well as high-risk skin cancers. Dr.
Algazi established and leads the head and neck medical oncology
research program at UCSF and he conducts clinical trials to enhance
anticancer immune responses with the goal helping more patients
with previously incurable head and neck and skin cancer to achieve
long-term remission. He has also served as the national study
chair for studies of targeted therapy in melanoma and he has
contributed to a number of pivotal clinical trials including early
trials of the PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, nivolumab with
ipilimumab for patients with melanoma brain metastases, and
intratumoral anti-tumor immune stimulation with tavokinogene
telseplasmid.
Dr. Algazi earned a medical degree at the UCLA School of
Medicine and completed an internal medicine residency at UCLA
Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in hematology and
oncology at UCSF. He has been a member of the American Society of
Clinical Oncology, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, the
American Association for Cancer Research, and the National
Comprehensive Cancer Network Melanoma Panel.
About OncoSec Immunotherapies
OncoSec is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on
developing cytokine-based intratumoral immunotherapies to stimulate
the body's immune system to target and attack cancer.
OncoSec's lead immunotherapy platform – TAVO (tavokinogene
telseplasmid) – enables the intratumoral delivery of DNA-based
interleukin-12 (IL-12), a naturally occurring protein with
immune-stimulating functions. The technology, which employs
electroporation, is designed to produce a controlled, localized
expression of IL-12 in the tumor microenvironment, enabling the
immune system to target and attack tumors throughout the body.
OncoSec has built a deep and diverse clinical pipeline utilizing
TAVO as a potential treatment for multiple cancer indications
either as a monotherapy or in combination with leading checkpoint
inhibitors; with the latter potentially enabling OncoSec to address
a great unmet medical need in oncology: anti-PD-1
non-responders. Results from recently completed clinical
studies of TAVO have demonstrated a local immune response, and
subsequently, a systemic effect as either a monotherapy or
combination treatment approach. In addition to TAVO, OncoSec
is identifying and developing new DNA-encoded therapeutic
candidates and tumor indications for use with its ImmunoPulse®
platform. For more information, please visit www.oncosec.com.
The information stated above was prepared by OncoSec Medical
Incorporated and reflects solely the opinion of OncoSec. Nothing in
this statement shall be construed to imply any support or
endorsement of OncoSec, or any of its products, by the Regents of
the University of California, its
officers, agents and employees.
CONTACT
Investor Relations:
Stern Investor Relations
Will O'Connor
Phone: (212) 362-1200
will@sternir.com
Media Relations:
David Schemelia / Jason Rando
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Phone: 212-827-0020
dschemelia@tiberend.com
jrando@tiberend.com
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SOURCE OncoSec Medical Incorporated