Professor Dame Carol Black, Internationally-Renowned Physician on Connective Tissue Disorders, Joins Riptide Bioscience Advis...
09 Abril 2020 - 7:00AM
Business Wire
Riptide Planning Clinical Trial of Lead
Candidate RP832c in Scleroderma
Dame Carol Joins Distinguished Group of
Scientists Advising Development of Riptide’s Novel Peptide
Therapeutics for Cancer, Inflammatory Conditions, and Infectious
Disease
Riptide Bioscience, Inc., today announced that Dame Carol M.
Black, FRCP, MACP, FMedSci, Foreign Associate Member of the
Institute of Medicine USA, renowned clinician/scientist and eminent
expert in systemic sclerosis, has joined the company’s Scientific
Advisory Board (SAB).
Dr. Black has led the Scleroderma Research Program at University
College London (UCL), and the clinical arm at its affiliated
hospital, The Royal Free in Hampstead. Together, these institutions
are Europe’s largest centers for both research and treatment in
scleroderma.
For three years, Riptide has worked in collaboration with UCL
clinicians to evaluate the potential of Riptide’s drug candidate,
RP832c, in the treatment of systemic scleroderma (SSc). This is a
highly complex debilitating disorder afflicting some 100,000
patients in the United States alone, which often progresses to
internal organs, resulting in pronounced disability and sometimes
death.
“Today, scleroderma patients have few alternatives for halting
and sometimes reversing the progress of the disease,” remarked Dr.
Black. “For that reason I have been particularly gratified by the
impressive results of the Riptide drug in multiple preclinical
models, both in vitro and in vivo. I’m happy to be of counsel to
the UCL – Riptide team as we move this important new approach into
the clinic.” UCL clinicians are working with Riptide on a Phase 1b
clinical trial protocol.
Dame Carol’s achievements range beyond scleroderma research to
broader impact on health and welfare policy. She previously headed
the Royal College of Physicians, Britain’s leading body of
professionals on internal medicine, and served as the United
Kingdom’s National Director for Health and Work. She was ‘knighted’
in 2005 for services to medicine, and in 2018 became chairperson of
the British Library, one of the world’s foremost. In 2019 she
became Chair of the UK Government’s Centre for Ageing Better.
Riptide President George Martin, Ph.D. noted, “We’re delighted
to welcome Dr. Black to Riptide’s advisory board. We’re convinced
that the immunomodulatory program at Riptide has outstanding
promise, not only in scleroderma but in a number of other fibrotic
and inflammatory conditions, including certain solid tumor types.
Dr. Black combines a profound understanding of the disease
mechanism and clinical outcomes, with years of experience in
bringing novel technology to the bedside and to the larger health
care system. Her expertise will be invaluable.”
Distinguished Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
Dame Carol Black joins a distinguished and active set of members
of Riptide’s SAB, chaired by Dr. Donald Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy is a
former head of the US Food and Drug Administration, President
emeritus of Stanford University, and editor-in-chief of Science
magazine.
Riptide’s SAB also includes Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, Professor
at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, leader
of the U.S. National Institute of Health initiative to address
KRAS-driven cancers, and co-founder of Onyx Pharmaceuticals,
acquired by Amgen for $10 billion in 2013.
Riptide’s scientific program is led by President Dr. George
Martin, himself a noted expert in fibrosis. Dr. Martin, previously
the Scientific Director of the U.S. National Institute on Aging,
was the Chief Scientific Officer and second employee of FibroGen,
now a $3 billion company.
About Riptide Bioscience
Riptide Bioscience, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical
company developing novel peptide therapeutics for the treatment of
cancer, inflammatory diseases, and bacterial infections. Riptide’s
peptides are based on key structures of naturally occurring
host-defense peptides, but engineered to have many times the
efficacy of the natural compounds. The company has shown the
potential of its novel peptides to fight infection in acute
disease, to modulate the activity of tumor-associated macrophages
to fight cancer, and to moderate harmful inflammation in chronic
conditions like scleroderma and other fibrotic diseases. Riptide is
now preparing to initiate human clinical testing of its peptides,
initially as a potential treatment for scleroderma. For more
information, please visit our website at
http://www.riptidebio.com.
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Charles Garvin Riptide Bioscience CEO cgarvin@riptidebio.com
For Media:
Joan Kureczka Bioscribe, Inc. Joan@bioscribe.com