REDWOOD CITY, Calif., July 24, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:THLD), today announced that Herbert Hurwitz, M.D. has joined the Company's Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Hurwitz is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center and a medical oncologist at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
"Tumor hypoxia is a promising area that is gaining a great deal of attention among the medical research community," said Herbert Hurwitz, M.D. "I am pleased to be a member of Threshold's Scientific Advisory Board and look forward to working with Threshold scientists and clinicians as well as the investigators who are conducting the early clinical trials."
"We are extremely pleased that Dr. Hurwitz will be on the SAB and a consultant to Threshold," said John Curd, M.D., chief medical officer. "His knowledge and experience in developing early and late-stage cancer therapeutics will provide a great deal of insight into the development of our hypoxia-activated prodrugs. Dr. Hurwitz has extensive understanding of hypoxia and angiogenesis which, when combined with his experience in oncology drug development, will add significantly to the development of TH-302, our hypoxia-activated prodrug currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of solid tumors."
Dr. Hurwitz has clinical expertise in Phase 1 clinical trials involving new anti-cancer drugs, drug combinations, and combinations of new drugs with radiation and cancers of the gastrointestinal system. His particular interest is in biomarkers related to anti-angiogenesis therapy. He was the lead author on the IFL/bevacizumab study in colorectal cancer. He is associate professor of medicine and the clinical director of the Phase 1 program and co-leader of the GI Oncology program at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.
Dr. Hurwitz received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and completed an Internal Medicine residency at Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and an Oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins Oncology Center in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in leading journals.
About Threshold Pharmaceuticals
Threshold is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics for the potential treatment of cancer. By selectively targeting abnormally-proliferating tumor cells, the Company's drug candidates are designed to be potentially more effective and less toxic to healthy tissues than conventional treatments. For additional information, please visit our website (www.thresholdpharm.com).