VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–(Marketwired – Mar 24, 2016) – BriaCell Therapeutics Corp. (BCTXF) (TSX VENTURE:BCT) (the “Company“) announces that Dr. Joseph Wagner has resigned his positions as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective immediately, in order to pursue other opportunities. Dr. Wagner has also stepped down from the Board. Mr. Rahoul Sharan, Director of the Company, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis as the Board searches for a suitable long-term replacement. Mr. Sharan brings 25 years of corporate finance experience where he has led financings in excess of several hundred million dollars. Dr. Wagner has committed to supporting BriaCell on a consulting basis in order to facilitate a smooth transition over the next few months.
Dr. Wagner commented, “While CEO of BriaCell, the Company obtained FDA approval to launch its Phase-IIa clinical trial, and partnered with UC Davis in manufacturing cGMP grade material for the planned trial. As the Company finally readies for its clinical trial, I am confident that current management and active Directors have the necessary expertise to oversee the launch, and I will do my best to support these activities.”
Dr. Babaei, Chairman of the Board commented, “We thank Dr. Wagner for his contribution over the last year in advancing the manufacturing of BriaVax™ as well as to establish the Company’s Research Laboratory in East Bay Innovation Corridor in Berkeley, California. On behalf of my colleagues, I wish him the very best in his future endeavors. The next phase of BriaCell’s growth is a very exciting one, and we are looking to share our progress with our partners and investors.”
ABOUT BRIACELL
BriaCell is a cancer immunotherapy biotechnology company developing a more targeted, less toxic approach to management of cancer. Immunotherapies have come to the forefront of the fight against cancer, because they harness the body’s own immune system in recognizing and selectively destroying the cancer cells, sparing normal ones. Immunotherapies, in addition to generally being more targeted and less toxic, have been shown to be more likely to prevent recurrence and are not expected to produce the serious side effects seen with chemotherapy.
BriaVax™, Company’s lead product is a genetically engineered whole-cell vaccine derived from a human breast tumor cell line. This targeted vaccine is believed to generate strong antibody and T-cell responses, which in turn may boost the immune system to recognize and eliminate cancerous cells. The Company has already demonstrated encouraging clinical results, and is intent on building upon these results to further advance BriaVax™ through additional FDA-approved clinical trials in order to help cancer patients with no other options. The results of two previous FDA Phase I clinical trials have been encouraging in terms of both safety and efficacy in patients with advanced solid tumors (17 breast cancer, 1 ovarian cancer). In some cases, patient survival was three to five times longer than would have been expected.
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