Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces Addition of James K. V. Willson, MD To Clinical Advisory Board

ROCKVILLE, Md., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of James K. V. Willson, M.D. to its Clinical Advisory Board.

"I am excited by the prospects of Panacea's HAAH Oncology Program for both the diagnosis and treatment of multiple cancers and look forward to having our center collaborate in developing this technology," stated Dr. Willson.

Dr. Willson is the Robert W. Kellermeyer Professor of Oncology at the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) School of Medicine; Director of the Ireland Cancer Center at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and CWRU; Professor of Medicine at CWRU, and Professor of General Medicine Sciences (Oncology) at CWRU.

As Director of the Ireland Cancer Center (http://www.irelandcancercenter.org), Dr. Willson leads a staff of nearly 200 researchers, scientists, and physicians. The Ireland Cancer Center is one of only 37 cancer centers in the U.S. recognized by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a Comprehensive Cancer Center, the highest level of recognition that the NCI awards.

His prior appointments have included Chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology; Associate Director for Clinical Research, Cancer Research Center, and Associate Professor of Medicine at CWRU as well as Associate Professor of Human Oncology & Medicine at the University of Madison, Wisconsin and Instructor in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute.

Dr. Willson is recognized as one of the nation's leaders in colon cancer research. He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications, abstracts, and book chapters. He was a member of the NCI's Board of Scientific Counselors from 1996 to 2000. Dr. Willson is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Association of American Cancer Institutes.

Dr. Willson received his Medical Degree from the University of Alabama and he was an intern and resident in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

"The addition of Jim to our advisory board will greatly support both our research and clinical aims as we continue to explore and validate the biological relevance of our technology in multiple cancer types and move our lead drug candidates into human testing," stated Hossein A. Ghanbari, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Company.

HAAH Oncology Program

Panacea's Oncology Program targets the enzyme Human Aspartyl (Asparaginyl) Beta-Hydroxylase, or HAAH. HAAH over-expression has been detected in primary tumor tissue of all eighteen tumor types tested to date, including cancers of the pancreas, breast, ovary, liver, colon, prostate, lung, brain, and bile duct. HAAH over-expression has been detected in 99% of tumor specimens (n>350) tested to date and has not been detected in normal or adjacent non- affected tissue. Recent findings have demonstrated that over-expression of HAAH is sufficient to induce cellular transformation, to increase cell motility and invasiveness, and to establish tumor formation in vivo.

Additional aspects of the expression, measurement, and biological effect of HAAH that the Company believes make it a suitable target for cancer therapy and diagnosis include:

-->  HAAH is over-expressed on the surface of cancer cells, facilitating detection, drug delivery, and enzyme inhibition.

-->  In laboratory studies, normal cells that are stimulated to express HAAH undergo malignant transformation and exhibit increased motility.

--> Even partial inhibition of HAAH expression has a beneficial effect on tumor cells, causing them to revert to a more normal phenotype as measured by the inhibition of growth, motility, and invasiveness.

--> In studies conducted in nude mice, all animals that received injections of cells expressing high levels of HAAH developed tumors at the injection site.

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a development stage biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing functional genomics and proteomics to develop therapeutics and diagnostics for cancer. The Company's technology pipeline includes drug development programs for central nervous system diseases, particularly Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.