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MetrioPharm Establishes Scientific Advisory Board of Seasoned Immunology and Pediatric Experts
— The new advisors will supply expertise in immunology, pathology, inflammatory processes and in MetrioPharm’s lead indication Duchenne muscular dystrophy
— Advisors have previously collaborated with MetrioPharm on strategic and scientific projects
— Advisors bring expertise to further advance MetrioPharm´s pipeline
MetrioPharm AG, a clinical stage biotech company developing drugs for inflammatory and infectious diseases, today announced that it has established a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The newly appointed members are:
Prof. Dr. Dirk Fischer, Senior Physician Neuro- and Developmental Pediatrics, University Children’s Hospital Basel (Switzerland)
Prof. Dr. Ferdinando Nicoletti, Full Professor of General Pathology and Immunology, University of Catania (Italy)
Prof. Dr. Laurent Servais, Professor of Pediatric Neuromuscular Disease, University of Oxford (UK)
Prof. Dr. Marcus Thelen, Emeritus, Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona (Switzerland)
Dirk Fischer, MD, PhD, has been Senior Physician Neuro- and Developmental Pediatrics, University Children’s Hospital Basel since 2008 and is Head of Neuromuscular Research, Senior Consultant of Neuro- and Developmental Pediatrics and Electrophysiology at the University Children’s Hospital Basel (Switzerland). His international studies included stays in Madrid, Dublin, Buenos Aires, and London as well as a postdoctoral fellowship at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in Paris (2003-2005), focusing on hereditary muscular and peripheral neurological diseases such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Ferdinando Nicoletti, MD, PhD, has been Full Professor of General Pathology and Immunology since 2011 at the University of Catania (Italy). He was appointed Honorary Professor at Tblisi State Medical University (Georgia) in 2023. Previously, he has been external consultant at the Institute for Inflammation Research, Rigshospitalet University Hospital, Copenhagen (Denmark), from 1999 until 2010 and Visiting Professor at the School of Medicine of the University of Belgrade (Serbia), in 2004. Ferdinando Nicoletti graduated at the University of Catania (Italy) in 1987 in Medicine and Surgery and specialized in allergology and clinical immunology at the University of Milan (Italy) in 1990.
Laurent Servais, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatric Neuromuscular Disease at the University of Oxford (UK) and Invited Professor at the University of Liège (Belgium), specialized in spinal muscular trophy, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and myotubular myopathy. Educated in medicine, pediatrics, child neurology, and myology in France and Belgium, he leads two newborn screening programs in the UK (spinal muscular atrophy) and Belgium (genomic newborn screening). His research focuses on innovative outcome measures using wearable devices and newborn screening. He sees patients in the UK and in Belgium and leads annual consultations in Egyptian and Romanian hospitals.
Marcus Thelen, PhD, is Professor emeritus at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, Bellinzona (Switzerland) and Honorary Professor at the University of Bern (Switzerland). In 2000, he co-founded the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) in Bellinzona (Switzerland) and headed the IRB’s Signal Transduction Laboratory until his retirement in 2022. In 1989, he joined the group of Alan Aderem in the Laboratory of Cellular Physiology and Immunology of the Cohn/Steinman Department at Rockefeller University (New York, NY), focusing on cytokine-mediated phagocyte priming and signal transduction. Following a Swiss National Science Foundation award, Marcus Thelen led a research group on leukocyte signal transduction in Bern. He received his PhD from the University of Bern (Switzerland), later as PostDoc specializing in inflammation and chemokines at the Theodor Kocher Institute at the University of Bern (Switzerland).
“We welcome the members of MetrioPharm’s newly established scientific advisory board,” said Thomas Christély, CEO of MetrioPharm. “All four have worked with us in the past, some even for years. We are very pleased to formalize these collaborations and bring these highly experienced advisors together on a joint board. Each of them is an expert with tremendous knowledge in their respective fields and has a very distinguished scientific background. They will continue to review our R&D activities and help management make better scientific and clinical development decisions.”
“Working with these experienced advisors has already been a great asset for MetrioPharm,” said Dr. Wolfgang Brysch, CSO of MetrioPharm. “We are happy to now formally establish and introduce this panel of experts for an even closer collaboration. Every aspect of our research development program – from preclinical research to clinical trials – will benefit from the unparalleled expertise of our new scientific advisors.”
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About MetrioPharm AG
MetrioPharm AG is a private, clinical-stage biotech company focused on therapies for inflammatory and infectious diseases.
MetrioPharm targets the modulation of immune metabolism with first-in-class self-regulating drug candidates. The Company´s platform has generated small-molecule metabolic modulators that have demonstrated pre-clinical and clinical efficacy in a wide range of inflammatory and infective diseases with an outstanding safety profile.
Based on this core technology, MetrioPharm has created a pipeline of disease-specific drug combinations targeting inflammatory, autoimmune, and degenerative diseases. Preclinical and clinical efficacy data have been obtained in multiple sclerosis, arthritis, sepsis, inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis. The Company is currently exploring several orphan indications with Duchenne muscular dystrophy as its lead indication.
In a second line of development, MetrioPharm is developing its technology to target infectious diseases such as COVID-19 – also as a proof of concept to improve pandemic preparedness. Supported by a grant from the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), a Phase IIa exploratory study evaluated the effect on hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The study confirmed the good clinical safety profile of MP1032 and demonstrated compelling efficacy data.
The Company is headquartered in Zurich and has a subsidiary for R&D activities in Berlin.
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties and are consistent with MetrioPharm AG’s assessment as of the date of this release. Such forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees but are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. No liability or warranty, and no claim, if any, is made with respect to the timeliness, accuracy or completeness of such data and information, and no reliance should be placed on such data and information, either explicitly or impliedly.