EMERYVILLE, Calif., Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bionovo, Inc.
(Nasdaq: BNVI) announced today the appointment of Jan Ake Gustafsson, M.D.,
Ph.D., to the company's Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Gustafsson has
extensive experience in academic research as well as with pharmaceutical and
biotech companies.
"We are very excited to have Dr. Gustafsson on the scientific advisory
board as we are advancing our discovery platforms," said Isaac Cohen, O.M.D.,
Bionovo's Chairman and CEO. He added, "Dr Gustafsson, a member of the National
Academy of Sciences, member of the Nobel Assembly and member of the Council of
The Endocrine Society, is a pioneer in biomedical research. Jan Ake's
contributions to medical science are numerous. Dr. Gustafsson's landmark
discovery of the estrogen receptor beta (ERB) transformed the future of
women's health and our ability to select safer more targeted therapies for
various indications. We are looking forward to collaborating with him on
current and future indications involving nuclear receptors."
Dr. Gustafsson states, "I'm very impressed by the scientific depth and
innovative approach of Bionovo's drugs and drug discovery strategies. The
utilization of natural compounds found in botanical sources, the targeted
mechanisms of action seem to result in safer drugs with exciting clinical
results. I believe the extensive pipeline of Bionovo will provide new
therapies for women. I hope our collaboration will further expand therapeutic
choices for a number of significant diseases with unmet needs."
In the early 1970s, Dr. Jan-Ake Gustafsson began making his first pivotal
contributions to the field of nuclear receptors, which are proteins that
regulate hormone function and are essentially involved in the regulation of
all aspects of health and disease. He has since published more than 1,300
peer-reviewed articles, with findings ranging from the elucidation of the
receptors' DNA-binding mechanism to the more recent discovery of a second
estrogen receptor, estrogen receptor beta, resulting in a paradigm shift in
the understanding of estrogen regulation.
His research achievements have been very well received by the scientific
community. Dr. Gustafsson, so far, has been cited more than 60,000 times. He
received numerous international awards and distinctions, e g Fogarty Scholar
NIH 1999; Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2000; European Medal, British Society for Endocrinology 2000; Lorenzini Gold
Medal, Lorenzini Foundation 2001; Foreign Honorary Member of the US National
Academy of Sciences 2002; Fred Conrad Koch Award (Endocrine Society USA) 2002;
Bristol- Meyers Squibb/Mead Johnson Award for Nutrition Research 2004;
Descartes Research Prize for excellence in scientific collaborative research
2005; Honorary Professor at the University of Chongquin, China 2007; Honorary
doctor in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of Milan
2008; Honorary Professor at the University of Beijing 2008. His most recent
work identifies inherent differences in signaling between the two estrogen
receptors. These findings clarify the roles that each receptor plays in breast
cell proliferation and point toward possible new therapeutics for breast
cancer and other women's health issues.
Dr. Gustafsson is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was
chairman of the Nobel Assembly Committee. Dr. Gustafsson serves as a member of
the Council (Board) of the Endocrine Society. Jan Ake was Chairman of the
Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm,
Sweden. He was a founder and director of Karo-Bio AB (Stockholm). In addition
Dr. Gustafsson was a member of several international Biotechnology review
panels. He holds numerous patents for his discoveries in broad areas of
medicine. Remarkably, Dr. Gustafsson has been an active instructor and mentor
to hundreds of graduate and postgraduate students from around the world. After
completing a doctorate degree in biochemistry in the Karolinska Institute, Jan
Ake received his medical degree from the same institute. Dr. Gustafsson is
currently building a new Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling at
the University of Houston, TX.
Bionovo, Inc.
Bionovo is a pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and
development of safe and effective treatments for women's health and cancer,
markets with significant unmet needs and billions in potential annual revenue.
The company applies its expertise in the biology of menopause and cancer to
design new drugs derived from botanical sources which have novel mechanisms of
action. Based on the results of early and mid-stage clinical trials, Bionovo
believes they have discovered new classes of drug candidates within their rich
pipeline with the potential to be leaders in their markets. Bionovo is
headquartered in Emeryville, California and is traded on the NASDAQ Capital
Market under the symbol, "BNVI". For more information about Bionovo and its
programs, visit: http://www.bionovo.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the
business of Bionovo, Inc. that can be identified by the use of forward-looking
terminology such as "believes," "expects," or similar expressions. Such
forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties,
including uncertainties relating to product development, efficacy and safety,
regulatory actions or delays, the ability to obtain or maintain patent or
other proprietary intellectual property protection, market acceptance,
physician acceptance, third party reimbursement, future capital requirements,
competition in general and other factors that may cause actual results to be
materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed,
estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be
described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, which are available at http://www.sec.gov. Bionovo, Inc. is under
no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or alter
its forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future
events or otherwise.
SOURCE Bionovo, Inc.
-0- 02/09/2009
/CONTACT: Claire Fong or Tom Chesterman, +1-510-601-2000,
investor@bionovo.com, both For Bionovo/
/Web Site: http://www.bionovo.com /
(BNVI)
CO: Bionovo, Inc.
ST: California
IN: MTC HEA
SU: PER
PR
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9802 02/09/2009 08:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com
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