Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Elects a New Board of Directors
Cambridge, MA, Thursday, February 23, 2012
Board Members to Help Guide Restructed Company toward Prostate Cancer Focused Strategy
Update on Clinical Development Programs
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and pioneer in the field of molecular medicine, announced today that it has elected a new Board of Directors. The new Board will support the Company’s strategic focus on the discovery, development, and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging and targeted radiotherapy of prostate cancer. Members of the new Board of Directors include:
- Nelson K. Stacks, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wave Guide Technology, a medical diagnostic company with the first-of-its-kind hand-held Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machine to diagnose cancer and other infectious disease states at point of care. Mr. Stacks will serve as Executive Director of the Board.
- Patrick Boyce, Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Highland Capital Management, L.P., one of the largest and most experienced global alternative credit managers.
- Barry R. Frankel, Managing Director of Frankel Group LLC, a management consulting firm that provides strategic and transactional advisory services to the global life sciences industry and growth equity/banking firms servicing the industry.
- Leslie D. Michelson, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Private Health Management, Inc., which provides a retainer-based service to coordinate the provision of their highest quality preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and emergency care services for patients around the world. Previously, Mr. Michelson served as Chief Executive Officer of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world’s largest source of philanthropic support for prostate cancer research.
- Lewis J. Shuster, Chief Executive Officer of Shuster Capital, a strategic and operating advisor to life science company executives and investors with a focus on contract services, lab reagents and instruments, clinical diagnostics, and selected medical devices.
“The election of a new Board of Directors is a major step as we direct the Company‘s strategy toward a multi-faceted prostate cancer initiative,” said Dr. John W. Babich, President, Chief Scientific Officer and founder of Molecular Insight. “The deep and relevant experience of each of these individuals will provide us with invaluable insights and guidance as we move forward with the advancement of a prostate program targeting both detection and therapy. I am especially pleased with the addition of Nelson Stacks as Executive Director whose depth and breadth of operational and financial experience will help us to create outstanding value as we re-focus the organization on improved financial performance and expanded partnership opportunities.”
On May 20, 2011, the Company emerged from Chapter 11 as a private company reincorporated in Delaware. The Company was restructured with a new credit facility of $40 million.
As part of its restructuring, Molecular Insight is focusing its efforts on developing novel ways of imaging prostate cancer and its metastatic invasion and on new approaches for treating this disease, a leading cause of death in men in the U.S. and worldwide. Current imaging technology for assessing the presence and degree of metastatic disease, such as CT and MRI scans, is less than ideal because it relies upon the recognition of ‘‘enlarged’’ lymph nodes to which it is neither sensitive nor specific. Bone scans for detection of metastatic invasion of the skeleton although sensitive, suffer from lack of specificity as fractures and degenerative changes can also present as positive bone lesions. The Company’s goal is to advance its innovative radiolabeled small molecules for imaging and therapeutic applications to address these unmet clinical needs.
In its research to date, the Company has demonstrated the ability to effectively target prostate cancer via a platform of small molecules that specifically bind the enzymatic domain of prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein found at high levels in primary and metastatic prostate cancer. In its initial clinical studies, the Company has demonstrated the potential of its 99mTc-labeled compounds (MIP-1404 and MIP-1405) to improve visualization of prostate cancer in the prostate gland as well as in soft tissue and bone, when compared to standard-of-care imaging. The Company and its expert panel of scientific advisors believe that the molecular imaging of prostate cancer using its small molecule platform offers a more accurate means of detecting prostate cancer so that urologists, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and patients can make more informed treatment choices.
This small molecule platform has also been leveraged to develop a series of targeted radiotherapeutics for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic prostate cancer. Radiation therapy is commonly used in prostate cancer and Molecular Insight is developing its novel radiopharmaceutical, 131I-MIP-1466, as part of a platform to deliver targeted radiotherapy directly to prostate cancer spread throughout the body.
MIP-1404, our lead imaging agent, is scheduled to enter a multi-center Phase 2 clinical study in Q3 2012 and 131I-MIP-1466, our lead therapeutic agent, is scheduled to enter a Phase 1 dose escalation study in Q1 2013.
Click here to view full biographies of the Board of Directors.
About Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company and pioneer in molecular medicine. The Company is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of radiopharmaceuticals for molecular imaging and targeted radiotherapy of cancer with particular emphasis on unmet clinical needs in prostate cancer imaging and therapy. For further information, please visit the Company’s website: www.molecularinsight.com.
Contact:
Deborah S. Lorenz
Corporate Communications Consultant
Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
617.871.6734
dlorenz@molecularinsight.com