Ambit Biosciences Announces the Formation of Two Clinical Advisory Boards

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ambit Biosciences today announced the formation of clinical advisory boards that will help the company advance its drug candidates in development for the treatment of blood cancers and solid tumors. The first advisory board will be focused on hematology and oncology, and the second will focus on solid tumors. The boards will guide Ambit on the development and implementation of the company’s clinical programs for its kinase inhibitors, including AC220 for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and AC480 for solid tumors.

“Our clinical development programs have advanced significantly in the past year with the commencement of Phase I clinical trials for our AML drug candidate, AC220, as well as the progression of several programs for the treatment of solid tumors,” said Scott Salka, chief executive officer of Ambit. “Each member of our two boards provides tremendous expertise that will be instrumental as we plan our trials for AC220 and AC480. We are exceptionally pleased to welcome these scientists and physicians to Ambit.”

Members of the Hematology and Oncology Clinical Advisory Board include Jorge Cortes, M.D., Brian Druker, M.D., Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., and Mark Levis, M.D., Ph.D. Solid Tumor Advisory Board members are Richard Gralla, M.D., Nancy Kemeny, M.D., Larry Norton, M.D., Edith Perez, M.D., Mark Ratain, M.D., and Nicholas Vogelzang, M.D.

Hematology and Oncology Clinical Advisory Board

Jorge Cortes, M.D., is a professor of medicine and deputy chair in the department of leukemia at The University of Texas, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, in Houston, Texas. He is a principal investigator in Ambit’s Phase I clinical trial evaluating AC220 in patients with AML.

Brian Druker, M.D., is an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Cancer Institute and JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at OHSU. Dr. Druker’s work was instrumental in the development of the BCR-ABL kinase inhibitor imatinib (Gleevec) for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). He was a founding member of Ambit’s clinical advisory board.

Gary Gilliland, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In addition to being the director of the leukemia program at Dana Farber Harvard Cancer Center, Gilliland is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and director of the cancer stem cell program at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

Mark Levis, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Levis’ laboratory research focuses on the development of molecularly targeted therapies for leukemia. Currently, he is actively involved in the pre-clinical and clinical development of small molecule inhibitors of the receptor tyrosine kinase, FLT3.

Solid Tumor Advisory Board

Richard Gralla, M.D., is currently vice president for cancer services and chief of hematology and oncology at the Monter Cancer Center of the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Lake Success, New York. He has over 30 years of experience in cancer care and has held positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York and the Ochsner Cancer Institute in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Nancy Kemeny, M.D., is a practicing oncologist with special expertise in developing new chemotherapy regimens for colorectal cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. She conducted some of the first studies using drugs such as irinotecan and oxaliplatin, which are now widely used in patients with colorectal cancer.

Larry Norton, M.D., is deputy physician-in-chief for breast cancer programs and medical director of MSK-64^th Street at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, New York. His research focuses on the basic biology of cancer, the mathematics of tumor causation and growth, and the development of approaches to better diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer.

Edith A. Perez, M.D., is a professor of medicine at Mayo Medical School, in Rochester, Minnesota. She is a member of the Mayo Clinic Women’s Cancer Program Steering Committee as well as director of the Cancer Clinical Study Unit at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. Perez has developed and is involved in a wide range of clinical trials exploring the use of new therapeutic agents for the treatment and prevention of breast cancer.

Mark Ratain, M.D., is the Leon O. Jacobson Professor of Medicine at The University of Chicago Hospital. Ratain also holds the positions of chairman, Committee on Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacogenomics at The University of Chicago as well as associate director for clinical sciences at its Cancer Research Center. He is an expert in the use of investigational agents to treat advanced solid tumors and in pharmacogenomics and clinical trial design.

Nicholas Vogelzang, M.D., is the director of the Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI). He is a recognized expert in new therapies for patients with metastatic kidney cancer, including genetic therapy, new cytokine therapy, and combination cytokine therapy. He also conducts large-scale national trials in the field of prostate cancer and mesothelioma.

About Ambit Biosciences

Ambit Biosciences is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. The company also markets the industry’s most comprehensive kinase profiling service through its KINOMEscan™ Division. KINOMEscan is a proprietary technology designed to screen small molecule libraries against large numbers of human kinases. Ambit has multiple drug candidates in pre-clinical and clinical development, including AC220, a selective class III receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor currently in Phase I for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. The company has partnerships with Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Cephalon, and other leading organizations. For more information, please visit www.ambitbio.com.