Actinium Pharmaceuticals Appoints Qing Liang, PhD, DABR as Vice President, Head of Radiation Sciences to Further Innovation for its AWE Technology Platform and Growing Pipeline of Antibody Radiation Conjugate Therapies
Accomplished Medical Physicist will drive relevant activities related to Antibody Radiation Conjugates for targeted conditioning, therapeutic combinations, and AWE technology platform development
NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE American: ATNM) ("Actinium" or "the Company") announced today the appointment of Qing Liang, PhD as Vice President and Head of Radiation Sciences. This key leadership position will be responsible for executing strategic and operational plans to advance the Company's growing pipeline of ARC or Antibody Radiation Conjugate therapies that are being driven by its AWE or Antibody Warhead Enabling technology platform. Actinium's clinical pipeline of ARCs is being applied to targeted conditioning to enable cellular therapies such as BMT or Bone Marrow Transplant and CAR-T as well as in combinations to leverage potential synergies of radiation with other modalities including chemotherapy, other targeted agents and immunotherapy.
In this newly created position at Actinium, Dr. Liang will work with Actinium's strengthened research and development group to drive innovation in line with Actinium's strategic vision related to its AWE technology platform. In addition, Dr. Liang will collaborate closely with clinical trial sites and their staffs, regulators and other key stakeholders to help advance and optimize Actinium's clinical ARC programs to deliver the best possible outcomes for patients.
Sandesh Seth, Actinium's Chairman and CEO said, "Actinium has made great progress in advancing our AWE technology platform and leadership position with Actinium-225 through rejuvenated R&D efforts in 2018. As a result, we have a multitude of opportunities to leverage the highly differentiated attributes of Actinium-225 ARCs in combination with other therapeutic modalities and we are thrilled to welcome Dr. Liang to the Actinium team at this time. Given Dr. Liang's invaluable experience and knowledge in the areas of radiobiology and radiation physics, we have great confidence that she will help Actinium capitalize on these opportunities and work with our scientific team to drive the next phase of R&D into novel and exciting therapeutic combinations. In addition, Dr. Liang will also support our partners and partnering efforts around our AWE platform. We expect the strengthened capabilities and quality of our R&D team, as exemplified by Dr. Liang, to yield significant value as we continue to make progress with our AWE platform and also with our development pipeline focused on improving patient outcomes and access to important cellular therapies such as bone marrow transplant and CAR-T through targeted conditioning.
Qing Liang, PhD, DABR brings highly relevant experience to Actinium related to the advancement and innovation of radiation-based therapies for improved therapeutic outcomes. Her research focus and interests revolve around radiation dosimetry, Monte Carlo Simulation, Knowledge Based Image Dose Optimization and Management, and imaging protocol optimization. Dr. Liang is a Medical Physicist certified by the American Board of Radiology and prior to Actinium was Medical Physicist and Assistant Professor at Fox Chase Cancer Center at Temple University (Philadelphia, PA). Prior to that, she had worked at Mercy Health System (Janesville, WI), Turville Bay MRI & Radiation Oncology (Madison, WI), University of Wisconsin Hospital (Madison, WI), and UW Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratory (Madison, WI). Dr. Liang has extensive knowledge on Radiation Physics, Radiation Dosimetry (Therapeutic and Imaging Dose), Radiation Protection and Safety, Health Physics and Radiobiology. Dr. Liang is currently an active member of the American Association of Physicist in Medicine and currently servers on three professional committees and task groups. She received BS and MS in Material Science and Engineering from Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and earned her PhD in Medical Physics from University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
Dr. Liang said, "Being a Medical Physicist, I know firsthand the importance of radiation-based therapies and their capabilities. I was drawn to Actinium by the uniqueness of the AWE technology platform, its leadership with Actinium-225 and also its unique leadership position in targeted conditioning. The Company's commitment to driving AWE and the strong R&D team that has been assembled is very impressive and I look forward to working with the team to fully elucidate the potential of the AWE platform and also development pipeline through innovation, technology development and collaborations. Given the renewed interest in targeted radiation therapies, I believe it is the ideal time to be further leveraging Actinium's AWE technology platform and intellectual property to create novel therapies and combinations that will expand Actinium's leadership position in the field of ARC's."
About Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. is focused on improving patient access and outcomes to cellular therapies such as bone marrow transplant (BMT) and CAR-T with its proprietary, chemotherapy free, targeted conditioning technology. Actinium is the only company with a multi-disease, multi-target, drug development pipeline focused on targeted conditioning. Its targeted conditioning technology is enabled by ARCs or Antibody Radio-Conjugates that combine the targeting ability of monoclonal antibodies with the cell killing ability of radioisotopes. Actinium's pipeline of clinical-stage targeted conditioning ARCs target the antigens CD45 and CD33 for patients with a broad range of hematologic malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and multiple myeloma (MM).
Iomab-B, Actinium's lead targeted conditioning product candidate, is currently enrolling patients in the pivotal Phase 3 SIERRA trial in patients age 55 or older, with active, relapsed or refractory AML. Iodine-131 apamistamab (Iomab-B), combines the anti-CD45 monoclonal antibody labeled with iodine-131 for myeloablation prior to a bone marrow transplant. CD45 is expressed on leukemia, lymphoma and normal immune cells. Iomab-B has been studied in over 500 patients in 10 clinical trials in numerous hematologic diseases. Actinium's Iomab-ACT program is an expansion of its CD45 program that is intended to be a universal, chemo-free solution for targeted lymphodepletion prior to CAR-T. Through targeted lymphodepletion, the Iomab-ACT program is expected to improve CAR-T cell expansion, reduce CAR-T related toxicities and expand patient access to CAR-T treatment and potentially other adoptive cell therapies. Due to its lower payload dose, lymphodepletion with the Iomab-ACT program can be accomplished through a single outpatient infusion. Actinium intends to advance its Iomab-ACT program with CAR-T focused collaborators from academia and industry.
Actinium's pipeline also includes a potentially best-in-class CD33 program with its ARC comprised of the anti-CD33 antibody lintuzumab labeled with the alpha-particle emitter actinium-225. Its CD33 program is currently being studied in multiple Phase 1 clinical trials for targeting conditioning, in combinations and as a therapeutic in multiple diseases and indications including AML, MDS and MM.
Actinium is also developing its proprietary AWE or Antibody Warhead Enabling technology platform which utilizes radioisotopes including iodine-131 and the highly differentiated actinium-225 coupled with antibodies to target a variety of antigens that are expressed in hematological and solid tumor cancers. The AWE technology enables Actinium's internal pipeline and with the radioisotope Actinium-225 is being utilized in a collaborative research partnership with Astellas Pharma, Inc. Actinium's clinical programs and AWE technology platform are covered by a portfolio of over 75 patents covering composition of matter, formulations, methods of use and also methods of manufacturing the radioisotope Actinium-225 in a cyclotron.
More information is available at www.actiniumpharma.com and our Twitter feed @ActiniumPharma, www.twitter.com/actiniumpharma.
Forward-Looking Statements for Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
This press release may contain projections or other "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe-harbor" provisions of the private securities litigation reform act of 1995 regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company which the Company undertakes no obligation to update. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from the anticipated or estimated future results, including the risks and uncertainties associated with preliminary study results varying from final results, estimates of potential markets for drugs under development, clinical trials, actions by the FDA and other governmental agencies, regulatory clearances, responses to regulatory matters, the market demand for and acceptance of Actinium's products and services, performance of clinical research organizations and other risks detailed from time to time in Actinium's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including without limitation its most recent annual report on form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports on Forms 10-Q and Forms 8-K, each as amended and supplemented from time to time.
Contact:
Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Steve O'Loughlin
Principal Financial Officer
soloughlin@actiniumpharma.com
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Released January 16, 2019