Gemin X Appoints Giorgio Attardo, Ph.D., Director of Medicinal Chemistry
Montreal, QC — December 4, 2001 — Gemin X Biotechnologies Inc. announced today the appointment of Giorgio Attardo, Ph.D., to Director of Medicinal Chemistry. Dr. Attardo previously served as Associate Director of Chemistry with BioChem Pharma, a Canadian biopharmaceutical company recently acquired by British specialty drug maker Shire Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Attardo, who has over a decade of experience in the discovery and development of novel anticancer compounds, will oversee Gemin X's medicinal chemistry group.
"Dr. Attardo brings to Gemin X an expertise in the discovery and development of small molecules, which will support our efforts to both optimize current lead chemical structures and expand our preclinical pipeline of anticancer therapeutics," said Dan Giampuzzi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Gemin X. "Dr. Attardo is widely considered to be an expert in medicinal chemistry and anticancer drug discovery and has a proven record of advancing compounds from the discovery stage through pre-clinical development. As such, Dr. Attardo will be a valuable asset to our anticancer drug discovery programs, providing us with a foundation around which to build internal medicinal chemistry capabilities."
During his twelve years at BioChem Pharma, Dr. Attardo was responsible for scientific direction of the anticancer medicinal chemistry group, discovery and preclinical development of novel anticancer agents, and strategic orientation of corporate anticancer projects. He also evaluated drug candidates and technologies for in licensing while managing an anticancer collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Attardo was team leader of the research group that discovered and developed Troxacitabine, an anticancer nucleoside currently in Phase II/III clinical trials for the treatment of several solid tumors and leukemia. Dr. Attardo received his Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from McGill University and completed postdoctoral research in anticancer medicinal chemistry at the Armand-Frappier Institute.
Gemin X Biotechnologies Inc. is a Montréal, Québec, based biopharmaceutical company specializing in the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics. The Company's expertise is in apoptosis, the natural process of cell death that serves as the body's defense against injured or damaged cells. Using its proprietary discovery platform, Gemin X has identified a series of small molecules that effectively inhibit the Bcl-2 pathway, a validated drug target implicated in B cell lymphoma, breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancer. Additionally, the Company has programs dedicated to the identification of novel cancer targets and therapeutics, discovering small molecules that promote apoptosis in cells infected with latent viruses, and finding compounds that act against chemo-resistant cancers.
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