Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today the appointment of Jamie Freedman, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President, Clinical Research & Regulatory Affairs.
Prior to joining Locus, Dr. Freedman was at Merck Research Labs for nearly five years where he held various positions of increasing responsibility in Clinical Pharmacology, Clinical Oncology, and Experimental Medicine conducting and supervising drug development programs. During this period, he was responsible for the clinical development of several novel cancer compounds. Dr. Freedman received M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Tufts University, and trained in Medicine and Hematology-Oncology at UCSF and Harvard, respectively. His research focused on the structure and function of proteins involved in blood coagulation and cancer. He also held a clinical staff position at the University of Pennsylvania.
“We are extremely pleased that Dr. Freedman, a very experienced and accomplished oncologist and scientist has chosen to join the Locus team,” stated H. Joseph Reiser, Ph.D., President & Chief Executive Officer of Locus Pharmaceuticals. “Jamie’s background represents a unique mix of scientific and clinical expertise that is highly relevant in leading Locus’ development programs into the critical clinical proof of concept stage,” added Dr. Reiser. Dr. Freedman’s appointment is particularly timely given the corporate transition of Locus Pharmaceuticals as a clinical stage company in the areas of oncology and inflammation. Therein, Locus expects to advance its lead oncology program for LP-261 into Phase II development and also anticipates filing a new IND application in 2008.
About Locus Pharmaceuticals
Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a world leader in computational drug design. Locus has effectively integrated its proprietary computational approaches with in-house expertise in chemistry, biology and crystallography to create a competitive preclinical drug development platform.
Locus is using its capabilities to develop its own compounds and has also entered into various drug design/development collaborations with numerous pharmaceutical partners. All of the Company’s internal development programs emanate from its computational technology and are focused on oral drug therapies, principally in cancer and inflammation. Locus’ lead oral oncology compound, LP-261 is in late Phase I studies and is expected to enter Phase II studies in early 2008. In its inflammation program, Locus created uniquely selective, first in class p38 inhibitors that bind to an allosteric binding site rather than the ATP site, which may offer an improved safety profile.
Locus has also identified an orally active multi-kinase inhibitor for cancer currently in preclinical development targeting a unique non-VEGF kinase profile. Locus is also working on earlier stage projects targeting Heat Shock Protein 90 which is being conducted in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an EPO antagonist program in collaboration with the National Institute of Health (NIH) and an oral gp41 program for AIDS/HIV.
Locus is a privately-held company. Visit www.locuspharma.com for more information.
Comments