Stockholm, Sweden, December 13th 2023 – OncoZenge AB (publ) (Nasdaq First North Growth Market: ONCOZ), a leading biotechnology company developing BupiZenge™, an innovative therapy for treating oral pain, today announces the formation of an Advisory Board of renowned scientists and clinicians with expertise in oral medicine and cancer.
The Advisory Board will provide strategic guidance and consultation to OncoZenge as it advances its research and development, with a focus on advancing BupiZenge™ through phase III studies and eventual market approval. The board's members bring a wealth of experience in oral medicine, radiotherapy and chemotherapies, including a deep understanding of the cancer care applied for patients suffering from oral mucositis.
"We are thrilled to have assembled such distinguished experts to advise us on our mission to bring BupiZenge to market," said Stian Kildal, CEO of OncoZenge. "Their insights and expertise will be invaluable as we work to advance our clinical work and partnerships to deliver our much needed pain relief drug to patients."
The founding members of the Advisory Board include Dr Stephen Sonis and Dr Pooja Nandwani Patel.
Dr Stephen Sonis, Professor of Oral Medicine at Harvard, shares;
“Oral mucositis remains a devastatingly painful complication for many patients being treated with anti-cancer cytotoxic chemo- or radiotherapy. Aside from its symptomatic toll, poorly controlled pain negatively impacts patients’ ability to tolerate optimal cancer treatment, as well as compromising nutrition and adding to the cost of care. The Phase 2 clinical trial results reported by OncoZenge suggest that a novel topical formulation of bupivacaine might offer a safe and effective, non-opioid alternative to mitigating mucositis-associated pain. I look forward to collaborating with OncoZenge to confirm their findings and make this technology a treatment option available to all those patients who need it.”
Dr Pooja Nandwani Patel, Head of Department of Radiation Oncology, Sterling Cancer Hospital, India adds;
”Oral mucositis is a very common and painful side effect of radio- and chemotherapy. The lack of effective, local pain relief is affecting patient outcomes in many ways. Admission workloads increase, we see incomplete and delayed treatments, and patients who are unable to eat. This is significantly impacting patients’ quality of life as well as ability to tolerate treatments and later, recover. Today’s standard of care is insufficient in meeting patient needs. Advancements in safe and effective pain relief for oral mucositis is therefore much needed.”
Niclas Holmgren, shareholder, and board member comments further; “I'm both pleased and proud that the internationally renowned expertise that Dr Sonis and Dr Nandwani represent, offer their support to our cause of bringing our drug candidate to market. They will bolster our knowledge of oral mucositis and cancer care, and it validates the existence of a medical need that we're deeply committed to resolving by bringing BupiZenge to patients.”
About Stephen T. Sonis, DMD. DMSc
Dr. Sonis is a senior academic at Harvard, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and a world-renowned expert on tissue toxicities of cancer therapy. His development of highly translational models has enabled the investigation of cancer regimen-related tissue toxicities and catalyzed development of potential therapies and innovative omics-based analytical approaches to clinically actionable outcomes to personalize therapy.
Dr. Sonis is the former President of Triad, an international not-for-profit company which focused on the adverse health and economic outcomes of cancer treatment toxicities and has served as a special employee of the FDA. He is a founder of Biomodels, a pre-clinical research organization, which was spun out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 1997 and has assisted in the development of drugs, devices, and biologicals for a wide range of indications including mucositis. A spin-off, Primary Endpoint Solutions (PES) assists companies throughout the clinical development process.
Dr. Sonis holds several patents and is the author of more than 300 original publications, reviews, and chapters and 11 books. He received his DMD from Tufts, completed his DMSc and residency at Harvard, and his postdoctoral training in tumor immunology at Oxford where he was a Knox Fellow.
About Dr Pooja Nandwani Patel, MBBS, MD (radiotherapy), Post Graduate Diploma in Hospital and Health Management
Dr. Pooja Nandwani Patel is a Radiation Oncologist working in the field of cancer since 2005. Currently, she is a Senior Consultant and Head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Sterling Cancer Hospital, India. She is a very passionate Radiation Oncologist with patient care as the main focus in her daily practice.
She has received the Most Promising Young Oncologist Award from Indian Cancer Society in 2012. She has been the recipient of many popular fellowships from AROI (Association of Radiation Oncologists of India), ASTRO (American Society of Radiation, ESTRO (European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncology), IGCS (International Gynecological Cancer Society), SNO (Society of NeuroOncology) and ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology).
She has been trained at reputed international cancer centres abroad including Christie School of Oncology, NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, England, Mannheim University, Mannheim, Germany, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, England, United Kingdom, Kaiser Permanente Medical Hospital, Santa Clara, California, USA, Princess Margaret Hospital, Toronto, Canada, Long Beach Memorial Medical Centre, Long Beach, USA and The Methodist Hospital, Houston, USA
Her primary research interests involve head and neck malignancies, gynecological malignancies, breast cancer, prostate cancer and brain tumors. She is very keen to utilize her acquired knowledge through various international fellowships and trainings done abroad, into clinical practice for the betterment of her patients.
BupiZenge™ – Potential to be the leading treatment for oral pain.
For additional information, please contact:
Stian Kildal, CEO, mobile: +46 76 115 3797, e-mail: stian.kildal@oncozenge.se
Certified Adviser
OncoZenge’s Certified Adviser is Carnegie Investment Bank AB (publ).
OncoZenge AB Gustavslundsvägen 34, 167 51 Stockholm, Sweden
About OncoZenge
OncoZenge develops a novel, effective, safe and well-tolerated treatment for oral pain in conditions where currently available treatment options either do not achieve sufficient pain relief or are associated with significant side effects. BupiZenge™ is a new oral lozenge formulation of bupivacaine, an anaesthetic with decades of clinical experience. OncoZenge's lead indication is oral pain due to an inflammatory condition called oral mucositis that affects millions of patients receiving cancer treatment. Oral mucositis causes profound physical and psychological suffering, and is a large unmet medical need for an effective, opioid-sparing treatment option. BupiZenge™ has shown significantly better pain relief compared to standard of care in this indication in a Phase 2 trial.
OncoZenge has its headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, and its share is publicly traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market under the ticker ONCOZ.