Tag Archives: GVT

BACH PHARMA APPOINTS KELLY BLACKBURN AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

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NORTH ANDOVER, MASSACHUSETTS, USA, July 5, 2016 – Bach Pharma Inc., a Delaware Corporation, today announced the appointment of Kelly Blackburn as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of the Bach Pharma Board of Directors. Ms. Blackburn will lead the company into their next stage of development, bringing the company’s lead candidate, GVT®, into the clinic.

“I am excited for the opportunity to advance this company to the next stage” said Kelly Blackburn, CEO, Bach Pharma. “I believe there is great potential to improve patients’ lives with these therapeutics. With their lead candidate, GVT, Bach Pharma is on the cutting edge of development for the treatment of life threatening neurological diseases.”

Bach Pharma also announced that Mark O. Henry will serve as Chief Financial Officer, transitioning from his role as CEO. Mr. Henry expressed his enthusiasm regarding the addition of Ms. Blackburn to the team, “Kelly is an accomplished executive in the healthcare industry who brings deep experience in running pharmaceutical operations to this role. We are thrilled to have her on board.”

Ms. Blackburn was previously Vice President of Clinical Affairs at aTyr Pharma in San Diego, California where as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, she was responsible for the oversight of clinical and regulatory plans for all programs. Ms. Blackburn has worked in several other pharmaceutical companies including Vertex pharmaceuticals where she led the operations for their portfolio. Her successes include approvals for transformative therapies in Cystic Fibrosis, Hepatitis C and Multiple Myeloma.

ABOUT BACH PHARMA

Bach Pharma, Inc., (BACH), a privately held pharmaceutical company, is a global leader in the development of revolutionary phthalazinedione-based therapeutics to treat life threatening diseases. BACH is targeting the development of therapies for life threatening oxidative stress-related diseases with the goal to dramatically improve patients’ lives and reduce the cost of global health care.

The company’s lead candidate GVT is a novel cytoprotective agent that has powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Research has shown that GVT can reverse oxidative stress, restore intracellular redox homeostasis and quell inflammation. GVT has the potential to treat various serious diseases of the central nervous and immune systems. Bach has intellectual property for GVT as well as multiple derivatives. The leading program will be focused on severe rare neurological diseases.

Bach is a proud member of the MassBio Council and a host company for the Massachusetts Life Science Center Internship Challenge.
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Media Contact: Mark O. Henry, CFO
Email: mhenry@bachpharma.com
Telephone: 978-794-5510

POSSIBLE HOPE FOR VETERANS SUFFERING FROM GULF WAR ILLNESS

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DOD AND BACH PHARMA RELEASE PHASE 1 REPORT DEMONSTRATING GVT® SHOWS CONSIDERABLE PROMISE FOR ALLEVIATING COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT AND MOOD DISFUNCTION CAUSED BY GWI

North Andover, MA, January 30, 2016 – The Department of Defense (DOD) and Bach Pharma recently announced that data collected from studies conducted by the Veterans Administration suggest that oral administration of GVT® has considerable promise for alleviating cognitive impairment and mood dysfunction in GWI rats. Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptom health problem which afflicts nearly 30{b4f08d363dd3b590b47f1fc18b02104aeb114e0ae1c67316d6092c20b26b737e} of veterans who served in the Persian Gulf War. Brain dysfunction, typified by memory dysfunction, depression and anxiety, is one of the major health issues in GWI. The full report is available on the DOD’s public website.

Bach’s lead candidate GVT® is a novel cytoprotective agent. GVT® has powerful anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and scavenges free radicals. GVT® has the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and enter cells of the central nervous system, as well as to enter the immune system, thereby delivering therapeutic results to the gut, thymus, spleen and blood. GVT® is also able to cross the retinal-brain barrier.

Phase 1 results from the multi-year study discovered that SOD-2 (the gene that encodes mitochondrial superoxide dismutase 2 protein) was one of twenty culprits involved in Gulf War Illness. “Administered at high doses, GVT® reversed all of the SOD-2 damage done to the mitochondria of the neurons. In addition, GVT® also showed very positive results regarding SOD-1,” stated Bach’s Principal Investigator Professor Paul K.Y. Wong, PhD, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Smithville, Texas. The results suggest that mood impairment, particularly anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure) as well as cognitive impairment pertaining to pattern separation, could be reversed with oral administration of moderate to high dose of GVT® in GWI rats. GVT® treatment modulates oxidative stress in the hippocampus of GWI rats. Furthermore, 20 genes that displayed increased expression in GWI rats were normalized to control levels with higher doses of GVT® treatment. In Phase 2 of this study the DOD will commence experiments involving the exposure of animals to Gulf War Illness-related (GWIR) chemicals and stress followed by GVT® treatment at extended time points after exposure.

When releasing the report the DOD announced “these are very interesting initial findings”.

George Hillman, Director of Business Development at Bach, stated “Bach is committed to working with the DOD and with the VA to improve the health care of all veterans and military personnel”.

This study was funded by the DOD, Bach Pharma, The Longevity Foundation and supported by college interns funded through the Massachusetts Life Science Center’s Internship Challenge program. Development of several of the protocols and all of the serum validation tests and data analysis on this phase of the program was completed at Merrimack College in North Andover, MA.

ABOUT BACH PHARMA

Bach Pharma, Inc., (BACH), a privately held research and development pharmaceutical company is a global leader in the discovery and commercialization of revolutionary therapeutics to treat life threatening diseases. BACH directs the development of therapies for degenerative neurological illnesses which can dramatically reduce the cost of global health care. Bach is a proud member of the MassBio Council and a host company for the Massachusetts Life Science Center Internship Challenge. Media Contacts: Mark Henry, CEO Telephone: 978-794-5510
Email: mhenry@bachpharma.com
www.bachpharma.com

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