Celsion Corporation Expands Vaccine Advisory Board with the Addition of Dr. Dan H. Barouch and Dr. Luke D. Handke
July 15 2021 - 8:00AM
Celsion Corporation (NASDAQ:
CLSN), a clinical-stage development company focused on
DNA-based immunotherapy and next-generation vaccines, today
announced the addition of Dan H. Barouch, M.D., Ph.D and Luke D.
Handke, Ph.D. to its Vaccine Advisory Board (VAB). They join Britt
A. Glaunsinger, Ph.D. and Xinzhen Yang, M.D., Ph.D. on the VAB,
which was formed in February 2021.
Dr. Barouch is the principal investigator at the
Barouch Laboratory, Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine
Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and William
Bosworth Castle Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. In
addition, he is a key participant in the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery, the National
Institutes of Health Martin Delaney HIV-1 Cure
Collaboratory and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard.
Dr. Barouch and his team were instrumental in developing the
vector, a variant of an adenovirus called Ad26, that was used to
make single-dose vaccines for HIV, tuberculosis and Zika, and
ultimately, in conjunction with Johnson & Johnson researchers,
SARS-CoV-2. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed articles.
Dr. Handke is a highly skilled molecular
biologist and microbiologist with a decade of pharmaceutical
industry experience including nine years with Pfizer’s Vaccine
Research and Early Development Unit. At Pfizer he served as
molecular biology lead on an early phase viral vaccine program and
was the lead reviewer of data sources and literature citations for
licensure application for the Trumenba® meningococcal group B
vaccine in the U.S. and in Europe. He began his career in vaccine
research at Wyeth. He is co-author and co-inventor on various
patent applications for a protein-based RSV vaccine and a
SARS-CoV-2 detection assay and authored 10 peer-reviewed
publications including six as first author. Dr. Handke is currently
a Senior Scientist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in
Omaha.
In addition to serving on the VAB, Dr. Handke
will provide consulting services to Celsion in connection with its
vaccine development program, which involves DNA-based vectors in
combination with proprietary non-viral cellular delivery agents. He
also will advise Celsion as it advances this program into human
clinical studies.
“We are excited to add these distinguished
virologists with their industry-leading perspectives and
experiences to the Celsion Vaccine Advisory Board,” said Khursheed
Anwer, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer
of Celsion.
“Dr. Handke is particularly adept at designing
and troubleshooting experimental approaches, and his work at Pfizer
should provide invaluable support for our vaccine initiatives,” he
added. “Dr. Barouch has a distinguished career developing vaccines
for diseases that have plagued both developed and developing
nations, and his work to deliver a single-dose DNA vaccine to
address the COVID-19 pandemic was recently highlighted in New York
magazine. Our VAB now counts four highly respected vaccine experts
as Drs. Handke and Barouch join Drs. Glaunsinger and Yang.”
Dr. Barouch received an M.D. degree from Harvard
Medical School, a Ph.D. in immunology from Oxford University and an
A.B. degree in Biochemistry from Harvard University.
Dr. Handke received a B.S. degree in biology
from Kansas State University and a Ph.D. in Pathology and
Microbiology from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. He was
a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Molecular Biology and
Microbiology at Tufts University.
About the PLACCINE
Platform
PLACCINE is Celsion’s proprietary plasmid and
DNA delivery technology and the subject of a provisional patent
application that covers a broad range of next-generation DNA
vaccines and was announced on January 28, 2021. An adaptation of
the Company’s TheraPlas technology, PLACCINE is a DNA vaccine
technology platform characterized by a single plasmid DNA with
multiple coding regions. The plasmid vector is designed to express
multiple pathogen antigens along with a potent immune modifier. It
is delivered via a synthetic delivery system and has the potential
to be easily modified to create vaccines against a multitude of
infectious diseases, addressing:
- Viral
Mutations: PLACCINE may offer broad-spectrum and
mutational resistance (variants) by targeting multiple antigens on
a single plasmid vector.
-
Enhanced Efficacy: The potent immune modifier
IL-12 may improve humoral and cellular responses to viral antigens
and can be incorporated in the plasmid.
- Durable
Efficacy: PLACCINE delivers a DNA plasmid-based antigen
that can result in durable antigen exposure and a robust vaccine
response to viral antigens.
- Storage
& Distribution: PLACCINE allows for stability that is
compatible with manageable vaccine storage and distribution.
- Dosing
& Administration: PLACCINE is a synthetic delivery
system that should require a simple injection that does not require
viruses or special equipment to deliver its payload.
About Celsion
Corporation
Celsion is a fully integrated, clinical stage
biotechnology company focused on advancing a portfolio of
innovative cancer treatments, including immunotherapies, DNA-based
therapies and directed chemotherapies through clinical trials and
eventual commercialization. The company’s product pipeline includes
GEN-1, a DNA-based immunotherapy for the localized treatment of
ovarian cancer. ThermoDox®, a proprietary heat-activated liposomal
encapsulation of doxorubicin, is under investigator-sponsored
development for several cancer indications. Celsion also has two
feasibility stage platform technologies for the development of
novel nucleic acid-based immunotherapies and other anti-cancer DNA
or RNA therapies. Both are novel synthetic, non-viral vectors with
demonstrated capability in nucleic acid cellular transfection. For
more information on Celsion, visit www.celsion.com.
Forward-looking Statements
Forward-looking statements in this news release
are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are
based upon current beliefs, expectation, and assumptions and
include statements regarding the platform having the potential to
provide broad protection against coronavirus disease 2019
(COVID-19), and possible future mutations of SARS-CoV-2 or other
coronaviruses. These statements are subject to a number of risks
and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict,
including the ability of the Company’s platform to provide broad
protection against COVID-19, and possible future mutations of
SARS-CoV-2 or other coronaviruses, the issuance of a patent to the
Company for use of its technology platform for treating or
preventing infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes
COVID-19, unforeseen changes in the course of research and
development activities and in clinical trials; the uncertainties of
and difficulties in analyzing interim clinical data, particularly
in small subgroups that are not statistically significant; FDA and
regulatory uncertainties and risks; the significant expense, time
and risk of failure of conducting clinical trials; the need for
Celsion to evaluate its future development plans; possible
acquisitions or licenses of other technologies, assets or
businesses; possible actions by customers, suppliers, competitors
or regulatory authorities; and other risks detailed from time to
time in the Celsion's periodic filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Celsion assumes no obligation to update or
supplement forward-looking statements that become untrue because of
subsequent events, new information or otherwise.
Celsion Investor ContactJeffrey W.
ChurchExecutive Vice President and
CFO609-482-2455jchurch@celsion.com
LHA Investor RelationsKim Sutton
Golodetz212-838-3777kgolodetz@lhai.com
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