Mirna Therapeutics Announces Dr. David Johnson as Scientific Advisor

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mirna Therapeutics, Inc. (“Mirna”) announced today that David Johnson, M.D., F.A.C.P., of UT Southwestern in Dallas, has joined the Company as Scientific Advisor.

“Having Dr. Johnson as a Scientific Advisor to Mirna will help us craft our clinical development plans for the years ahead.”

“We are excited about having Dr. Johnson join Daniel Von Hoff, M.D., Steven McKnight, Ph.D., and Franck Slack, Ph.D., as Scientific Advisors to Mirna. Dr. Johnson’s expertise as a clinical oncologist and investigator, coupled with his outstanding reputation in the field of cancer research, will be of tremendous value to Mirna as we move our microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutic candidates towards and into the clinic,” said Dr. Paul Lammers, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mirna Therapeutics. “Having Dr. Johnson as a Scientific Advisor to Mirna will help us craft our clinical development plans for the years ahead.”

Dr. David Johnson recently moved from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, to take the helm as the Donald W. Seldin Distinguished Chair in Internal Medicine, and Chairman of the Department of Internal Medicine at the UT Southwestern Medical School in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Johnson is the recipient of numerous honors and awards and served on the Board of Directors of several key institutions and associations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN). Dr. Johnson also served for four years on the Oncology Drug Advisory Committee (ODAC) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Johnson is a recognized specialist in the area of non-small cell lung cancer, and has published over 600 scientific papers, abstracts, books and monographs. Dr. Johnson completed his under-graduate (zoology) and graduate (physiology) studies at the University of Kentucky, and received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Johnson received his internal medicine training at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown, New York, and completed his internal medicine residency at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama before joining the medical oncology faculty at the Vanderbilt University Medical School in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Johnson stated, “More and more people in the cancer research community believe that microRNA-based therapeutics could become the next big class of targeted cancer therapies. I am delighted to join Mirna as Scientific Advisor given their early involvement in the miRNA field and their promising pipeline of therapeutic candidates.”

Mirna Therapeutics is funded in part by a Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) Commercialization grant.

About Mirna Therapeutics

Mirna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of microRNA (miRNA) therapeutics. The Company has a substantial body of pending intellectual property around miRNAs developed by its own scientists as well as in-licensed from other institutions. Mirna’s IP portfolio contains >300 miRNAs with applications in oncology and other diseases. Oncology-directed miRNAs include those that are key tumor suppressors in cancer, such as miR-34 and let-7 that have proven to block tumor growth in a number of different pre-clinical animal studies. The Company, founded in 2007, is located in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit www.mirnarx.com.

About CPRIT

Texas voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment in 2007 establishing the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) and authorizing the State to issue $3 billion in bonds to fund groundbreaking cancer research and prevention programs and services in Texas. CPRIT's goal is to expedite innovation and commercialization in the area of cancer research and to enhance access to evidence-based prevention programs and services throughout the state. CPRIT accepts applications and awards grants for a wide variety of cancer-related research and for the delivery of cancer prevention programs and services by public and private entities located in Texas. More information about CPRIT is available at its website, www.cprit.state.tx.us.