2/9/2004 Generex Appoints Dr. Douglas Powell as Director of Immunobiology
Former Senior Scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals to Lead Development of
Cancer and Infectious Disease Programs at Company’s Subsidiary
TORONTO, February 9, 2004 -- Generex Biotechnology Corporation (NASDAQ:
GNBT), announced today the appointment of Douglas Powell, Ph. D., formerly a
Senior Scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., to be Director of
Immunobiology at Antigen Express, its immunomedicines subsidiary near
Boston. Dr. Powell will coordinate development of novel T helper cell
vaccine technologies in human T lymphocytes and dendritic cells for
treatment of cancer and infectious diseases, and to combat bioterrorism
agents.
Anna Gluskin, President & Chief Executive Officer of Generex, said, “We are
pleased to have Dr. Powell join our scientific team. His substantial
accomplishments, and well-deserved reputation as a creative and productive
biotech inventor, participating in about 100 patent applications, position
him for similarly great achievements with us.”
“I am excited to join this very strong Antigen Express-Generex product
development team,” said Dr. Powell. “I have been impressed by the technology
and believe we are well positioned to capitalize on large markets for unmet
medical needs.”
While at Millennium, Dr. Powell was the Principal Investigator in charge of
the HIV program utilizing gene arrays to identify cellular targets for
therapeutic intervention. He led the filing of 60 patents on methods and
compositions for treating AIDS and HIV-related disorders. He also
established multiple collaborative research programs with investigators at
Harvard and Emory Universities, The University California, Irvine and The
University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland.
Prior to joining Millennium, Dr. Powell was a Senior Scientist at Dupont
Pharmaceutical Company, where he led a group of five scientists in a program
to find novel inhibitors of HIV replication. There, he also developed
identified small molecule inhibitors of HIV-1 Tat protein and of CCR5,
finding multiple compounds that inhibited Tat function in in vitro
transcription, RNA binding and cell based assays and in blocking CCR5 virus
receptor function.
Dr. Powell received his Ph.D. in Genetics from George Washington University
for work on HIV in the lab of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is Director of The
Laboratory of Immunoregulation and the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases. His postdoctoral fellowship was with Dr. Warner Greene,
Director of the Gladstone Institutes for Immunology and Virology, at the
University of San Francisco.
Dr. Bruce Walker, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and
Director of the Partners AIDS Research Center, said “Doug Powell is a very
creative and industrious scientist who has and will continue to make
substantial contributions to understanding the immunobiology of T lymphocyte
responses to HIV infection. I have much enjoyed working with him in the
past, and look forward to understanding better the novel ideas he will be
exploiting in the future.”
Dr. Ruth Ruprecht, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a
world authority on passive immunization with human neutralizing monoclonal
antibodies, and mechanisms of dendritic cell enhancement of oral replication
in CD4 T lymphocytes said “Dr. Powell is an accomplished young scientist
with whom I have enjoyed working productively in understanding HIV
infections in dendritic cells. I look forward to following this new phase
of his professional career.”
Dr. Powell will work to characterize the mechanisms and optimal therapeutic
conditions to use Antigen Express novel and patented T-helper cell vaccine
peptides to expand T-helper cells against cancer, HIV and SARS agent
antigenic epitopes. Such cells after expansion in culture can be reinfused
to enhance the immune system’s response.
In a related project Dr. Powell will advance methods to immunize a patient’s
dendritic cells in culture using a DNA vaccine for cancer, HIV or the SARS
agent. By suppressing the Ii immunoregulatory protein, novel T-helper
cell-stimulating antigenic determinants come to be bound to
antigen-presenting receptors in the subcellular compartment of their
synthesis. This augmented T cell response significantly enhances the immune
system’s capacity to fight viruses. Antigen Express holds U.S. and foreign
patents on the reagents, this technology and its method of use for
therapeutic goals.
Generex acquired Antigen Express in August 2003 to exploit synergies between
RapidMistâ technology and Antigen Express therapeutics.
RapidMistâ-delivered therapeutic proteins, such as insulin or various
hormones, or drugs requiring frequent parenteral use, can be administered
with a needleless technique. This method is well accepted by patients and
their physicians.
About Generex
Generex is engaged in the research and development of drug delivery systems
and technology. To date, it has focused on developing a platform technology
for the buccal delivery -- delivery to the oral cavity for absorption
through the inner mouth mucosa -- of drugs that historically have been
administered only by injection. Generex's buccal delivery technology has
application to a large number of drugs. Generex acquired Antigen Express in
August. 2003. The core platform technologies of Antigen Express comprise
immunotherapeutics for the treatment of malignant, infectious, allergic, and
autoimmune diseases. This release and oral statements made from time to time
by Generex representatives concerning the same subject matter may contain
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements can be identified by
introductory words such as "expects,"
"plans," "intends," "believes," "will," "estimates," "forecasts,"
"projects" or words of similar meaning, and by the fact that they do not
relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements
frequently are used in discussing potential product applications, potential
collaborations, product development activities, clinical studies, regulatory
submissions and approvals, and similar operating matters. Many factors may
cause actual results to differ from forward-looking statements, including
inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of risks and uncertainties, some
of which are known and others of which are not. Known risks and
uncertainties include those identified from time to time in the reports
filed by Generex with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which should
be considered together with any forward-looking statement. No
forward-looking statement is a guarantee of future results or events, and
one should avoid placing undue reliance on such statements. Generex claims
the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements that is
contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.
Shayne Gilliatt of Generex Biotechnology Corporation,
1-800-391-6755 or +1-416-364-2551; Ken Sgro of CEOcast, Inc.,
+1-212-732-4300, kensgro@ceocast.com, for Generex Biotechnology
Corporation
Shayne Gilliatt of Generex Biotechnology Corporation, 1-800-391-6755, or
+1-416-364-2551; or Ken Sgro of CEOcast, Inc., 212-732-4300,
kensgro@ceocast.com, for Generex Biotechnology Corporation
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