La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company Announces Additions to LJPC-401 Advisory Board
April 22 2015 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company
(Nasdaq: LJPC) (the Company or La Jolla), a leader in the
development of innovative therapies intended to significantly
improve outcomes in patients suffering from life-threatening
diseases, today announced the addition of four new members to its
advisory board for the development of LJPC-401, La Jolla’s novel
formulation of hepcidin. The advisory board is composed of
internationally renowned clinicians, highly respected academics and
key opinion leaders in the fields of gastroenterology, hematology
and oncology. The new members of the advisory board are Paul Adams,
M.D., Victor Gordeuk, M.D., Ashutosh Lal, M.D., and Gordon McLaren,
M.D.
La Jolla seeks the advisory board’s guidance on all aspects of
LJPC-401’s therapeutic development, including unmet medical needs,
new targets and paths, target validation, optimal indications,
patient populations and trial designs. The advisory board further
connects La Jolla to specific and relevant expertise that enhances
La Jolla’s efforts to base its therapeutic programs on the best
science and critical thinking.
“We are very pleased to bring these key thought leaders together
to strengthen La Jolla’s advisory board for the development of
LJPC-401,” said George F. Tidmarsh, M.D., Ph.D., President and
Chief Executive Officer of La Jolla. “This advisory board provides
strategic guidance to the LJPC-401 development program, in which we
expect to start a Phase 1 clinical trial later this year.”
Paul Adams, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine and Chief of
Gastroenterology at the University of Western Ontario, in London,
Ontario. Dr. Adams has been working in the field of hemochromatosis
and iron overload since 1977. He graduated from medical school at
Queens University (Kingston, Ontario) in 1980 and completed
internal medicine training in Toronto and New York (Mount Sinai).
He completed a gastroenterology fellowship at the University of
California at San Francisco (UCSF) and studied hemochromatosis at
the Liver Research Unit of the Royal Brisbane Hospital in Australia
and the Liver Research Unit in Rennes, France.
Victor Gordeuk, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine in the
Division of Hematology and Oncology at the University of Illinois.
Dr. Gordeuk specializes in treatment of patients with sickle cell
disease and in conducting research to understand new ways to
prevent complications of this condition. He has expertise in
treating disorders of iron metabolism, including iron overload and
iron deficiency. He also has a research and treatment interest in
patients with congenital or unexplained polycythemia. He graduated
from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, completed an
internship and residency at York Hospital and a fellowship at Case
Western Reserve School of Medicine.
Ashutosh Lal, M.D., is a Pediatric
Hematologist/Oncologist and the Director of the thalassemia program
at the University of California, San Francisco, Benioff Children's
Hospital in Oakland, CA. Dr. Lal’s research areas of interest are
in the development of intensive chelation regimens for
transfusional iron overload, iron-induced cellular injury, the
natural history of hemoglobin H disease and micronutrient
inadequacy in hemoglobinopathies. He graduated from Government
Medical College in Punjab, India, completed training at the
Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in
Chandigarh, India, a residency in pediatrics at the University of
Illinois, Chicago, as well as a fellowship in pediatric
hematology/oncology at University of California, San Francisco,
Benioff Children's Hospital in Oakland, CA.
Gordon McLaren, M.D., is a Professor of Medicine in the
Division of Hematology/Oncology at the University of California,
Irvine. Dr. McLaren’s research interests include disorders of iron
metabolism, focusing on the areas of hemochromatosis and other
forms of iron overload, control of intestinal iron absorption and
regulation of cellular iron-binding proteins. He graduated from
medical school at Stanford University in 1970, completed an
internship in internal medicine at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in
Cooperstown, NY, a residency at the University Hospitals of
Cleveland in internal medicine and hematology, and a fellowship in
hematology/oncology.
About LJPC-401
LJPC-401 is La Jolla’s novel formulation of hepcidin. Hepcidin
is a naturally occurring peptide hormone that controls and
regulates iron metabolism. By suppressing iron release, hepcidin
prevents iron accumulation in tissues, such as the liver, heart and
pancreas, where it can cause significant damage and even result in
death. La Jolla is developing LJPC-401 for the treatment of
conditions characterized by iron overload, such as hemochromatosis
and beta thalassemia. Preclinical studies have shown that
increasing hepcidin, either via synthetic hepcidin injection or
genetic induction, results in reduced iron overload in organs. La
Jolla expects to file an IND and commence a Phase 1 clinical trial
of LJPC-401 in the second half of 2015.
About La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company
La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company is a biopharmaceutical company
focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of
innovative therapies intended to significantly improve outcomes in
patients suffering from life-threatening diseases. The Company has
four product candidates in development. LJPC-501 is La Jolla’s
proprietary formulation of angiotensin II for the potential
treatment of catecholamine-resistant hypotension and hepatorenal
syndrome. GCS-100 is La Jolla’s first-in-class galectin-3 inhibitor
for the potential treatment of chronic kidney disease. LJPC-1010,
La Jolla’s second-generation galectin-3 inhibitor, is a more potent
and purified derivative of GCS-100 that can be delivered orally for
the potential treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and other
diseases characterized by tissue fibrosis. LJPC-401 is La Jolla’s
novel formulation of hepcidin for the potential treatment of
conditions characterized by iron overload, such as hemochromatosis
and beta thalassemia. For more information on La Jolla, please
visit www.ljpc.com.
Forward-Looking Statement Safe Harbor
This document contains forward-looking statements as that term
is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
These statements relate to future events or the Company’s future
results of operations. These statements are only predictions and
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors,
which may cause actual results to be materially different from
these forward-looking statements. The Company cautions readers not
to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements,
which speak only as of the date they were made. Certain of these
risks, uncertainties, and other factors are described in greater
detail in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), all of which are available free of
charge on the SEC's web site http://www.sec.gov. These risks include, but are
not limited to, risks relating to: the successful future
development of LJPC-401 and anticipated contributions of the
LJPC-401 advisory board. Subsequent written and oral
forward-looking statements attributable to the Company or to
persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their
entirety by the cautionary statements set forth in the Company's
reports filed with the SEC. The Company expressly disclaims any
intent to update any forward-looking statements.
La Jolla Pharmaceutical CompanyGeorge F. Tidmarsh, M.D.,
Ph.D.President & Chief Executive Officer(858)
207-4264gtidmarsh@ljpc.comandDennis M. MulroyChief Financial
Officer(858) 433-6839dmulroy@ljpc.com
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