SAN DIEGO (PRWEB) JUNE 03, 2019 – Calidi Biotherapeutics, Inc., a clinical‐stage biotechnology company at the forefront of oncolytic virus-based immunotherapies for cancer, today announced the appointment of Dr. Dmitriy Zamarin, MD, Ph.D., to their scientific advisory board. Dr. Zamarin is an accomplished medical oncologist who specializes in the care of women with gynecologic cancers, including cervical, ovarian, and endometrial cancers at the Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
“We have been collaborating with Dr. Dmitriy Zamarin over the past several months, and have benefited from his experience and insight,” said Allan J. Camaisa, CEO and Chairman of Calidi Biotherapeutics. “We look forward to continuing to work with Dr. Zamarin as Calidi heads into phase 2 clinical trials. We have the right team and the right scientific advisory board at the right time.”
Dr. Zamarin’s clinical and laboratory research is focused on the development of new ways to use the immune system to treat cancer, and he is involved in clinical trials evaluating novel immunotherapeutic approaches in patients with cancer. Dr. Zamarin is particularly interested in genetically engineered oncolytic viruses, an emerging class of immune therapeutic drugs that have shown significant promise in recent years. By manipulating the oncolytic viruses and the immune system, Dr. Zamarin is exploring different ways to enhance the immune recognition of tumors and to develop novel treatment strategies that would apply to different cancer types. Amongst his multiple awards and commendations both nationally and internationally, he was awarded the 2014 Bladder Cancer Awareness Network Young Investigator, the 2013 Conquer Cancer Foundation ASCO Young Investigator Award, Damon Runyon Foundation Fellowship Award, and the 2012 Celgene Future Leaders in Hematology Award.
“I am excited to work with Calidi Biotherapeutics on their mission to cure difficult to treat cancers,” said Dr. Dmitriy Zamarin, the newly appointed scientific advisory board member for Calidi Biotherapeutics. “My passion is manipulating oncolytic viruses to help kickstart the immune system to fight cancer. Calidi Biotherapeutics approach of using non-modified and engineered oncolytic viruses is innovative and scientifically sound. The advances Calidi has made using mesenchymal stem cells as a novel platform to protect, amplify, deliver, and potentiate the oncolytic virus treatments are very promising.”
“We are honored to collaborate with Dr. Zamarin, a key opinion leader in both the scientific and clinical development of oncolytic immunotherapy,” said Boris Minev, MD, President, Medical and Scientific Affairs, Calidi Biotherapeutics. “His contributions to our preclinical and clinical programs focused on further optimization of Calidi’s novel platforms will be invaluable.”
About Calidi Biotherapeutics
Calidi Biotherapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company with proprietary technology that overcomes the challenges to the effective delivery of oncolytic viruses. Calidi Biotherapeutics is advancing its cell-based oncolytic virus delivery platform in an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for the treatment of prostate cancer, based on previous guidance the company has received from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Calidi Therapeutics scientific, clinical and regulatory expert advisors. Calidi Biotherapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, please visit http://www.calidibio.com.
