New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/15/2015 -- PlasmaTech Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company advancing protein biologic therapies and oncology supportive care products, announced today it had appointed Charlie Strange, M.D. to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Strange is a highly regarded thought leader in the Alpha-1 community, and has extensive clinical experience in designing and managing Alpha-1 clinical studies. The Company believes his advice and counsel will help accelerate development and approval of its proprietary SDF Alpha(TM) biologic drug.
Dr. Strange commented, "This is an exciting time for PlasmaTech with its many promising commercial opportunities in the plasma space, specifically with its alpha-1 antitrypsin program. Use of plasma-derived proteins, both alpha-1 and IVIG, are expanding greatly, and the need to advance technologies that achieve higher alpha-1 yields will be critical in order to satisfy future demand. I am excited to join a team with such a strong technology position, and I look forward to being a part of their success."
"We are privileged and excited to have Dr. Strange join our SAB," stated Steve Rouhandeh, PlasmaTech's Executive Chairman. He continued, "Dr. Strange is a leader in the Alpha-1 community and has extensive experience with the plasma therapeutics industry. We look forward to working closely with Dr. Strange and the entire SAB in advancing our proprietary alpha-1 augmentation therapy, SDF Alpha, into the clinic and ultimately into the market place."
Charlie Strange, MD is a professor of pulmonary, critical care, allergy and sleep medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, SC. Dr. Strange directs the Alpha-1 Foundation Research Registry that participates in research studies in alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. He is an expert in small clinical trial design and rare diseases.
Information on the Alpha-1 Foundation Research Registry can be found at
http://alpha-1foundation.org/alpha-1-research-registry/
About Plasma Proteins and the SDF(TM) Process
The global market for drugs derived from human blood plasma fractionation is currently greater than US$15 billion, and is growing at a rate close to 10% annually. Despite this significant market opportunity, limited innovation in fractionation technology has occurred in decades. PTBI has developed and patented a new extraction process for plasma biologics that may fundamentally change the economics of blood plasma fractionation, and makes possible the extraction of several additional therapeutically useful plasma proteins. The Company believes that PlasmaTech's proprietary fractionation process is expected to significantly enhance yields of specific high-value proteins, including alpha-1 antitrypsin, expanding market opportunities while greatly enhancing margins. The Company believes that PlasmaTech's lead product opportunity, alpha-1 antitrypsin ("AAT"), will offer a potentially high revenue, short time-to-market respiratory product for treatment of inherited COPD, or alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency ("AATD"), among other indications. In addition, the SDF process is expected to produce higher yields of other high-value proteins with significant therapeutic benefit.
About PlasmaTech
PlasmaTech is a biopharmaceutical company focused on advancing protein biologic therapies and oncology supportive care products. Exploiting two proprietary platforms, Salt Diafiltration (SDF(TM)) Process and Polymer Hydrogel Technology (PHT(TM)), PlasmaTech is active in the development and commercialization of human plasma-derived therapeutics, including its proprietary alpha-1 protease inhibitor, SDF Alpha(TM). The Company has developed a robust product pipeline that includes two commercial stage products, MuGard® and ProctiGard(TM), with additional follow-on products in development.
For more information, visit http://www.plasmatechbio.com