BIOASIS TECHNOLOGIES INC., a biopharmaceutical company focused on overcoming the limitations of therapeutic drug delivery across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and into the central nervous system for the treatment of neurological diseases and disorders, today announced the appointments of Prof. John H. Krystal, M.D., Jeffrey L. Cummings, M.D. and John P. Wikswo, Jr., Ph.D. to its newly established Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). These independent experts will serve as a strategic resource to biOasis as it continues to advance the company’s proprietary drug delivery platform. Dr. Krystal will serve as chairman of the SAB.
“I’m excited to serve as chair of the biOasis SAB and to work with Mark again,” said Dr. Krystal. “Most drugs created to treat central nervous system diseases and disorders fail because they aren’t optimally designed to be delivered in sufficient quantities to the brain. I look forward to working with Mark and his team to untap the potential of the biOasis platform in the development of differentiated treatments for previously untreatable neurological diseases and disorders.”
Additional members will be added once their institutions approve their membership to the biOasis SAB. The SAB will be comprised of leaders from the academic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries from discovery, translational medicine and clinical development areas The SAB will work closely with the biOasis management team to advance the development of the Company’s proprietary BBB drug delivery platform, xB3. The role of the SAB is to provide strategic guidance and direction for the biOasis in-house development programs as well as strategic research alliances. The SAB will also play a role in guiding and prioritizing the company’s research investment.
“I am intrigued by the proprietary xB3 BBB drug delivery technology that biOasis has developed and I am eager to assist with the strategy for its development,” said Dr. Cummings.
“I am excited at the opportunity of working with biOasis and their SAB. This is translational science at its best — my academic research group received five years of funding from NIH/NCATS to develop a neurovascular unit on a chip and the supporting hardware. We learned a lot from our experiments, colleagues, pharma, and organ-on-chip companies, and are proceeding to develop on-chip disease models. Now I can help guide the development of a specific therapeutic platform,” said Dr. Wikswo.
“We are honored to welcome Dr. Krystal, Dr. Cummings and Dr. Wikswo to the new biOasis SAB. Having worked with Professors Krystal and Cummings previously, I’ve been fortunate to have had their guidance and support on several key studies. They helped guide my translational research during one of the most productive periods in my career. I can’t wait to work with them again. Dr. Wikswo adds significant BBB experience to our board. His work developing a BBB on a chip as part of his organs-on-a-chip program has been extraordinary and I look forward to working with him as well. They are all true leaders in their fields,” said Mark Day, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, biOasis Technologies, Inc. “Our new SAB members will provide a tremendous knowledge base that will help to inform our approach to our ongoing research and clinical development activities. Their collective knowledge and guidance will be invaluable as we advance our in-house research programs and external research alliances.”
