SEATTLE, Feb. 05, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SEngine Precision Medicine, a biotech startup redefining how cancer is managed and accelerating life-saving discoveries through the promise of precision oncology, today welcomed Siddhartha Mukherjee M.D., Ph.D., to the SEngine Precision Medicine Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Mukherjee is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. The work was recently produced by Ken Burns as a PBS documentary series. Dr. Mukherjee is also an Assistant Professor of Medicine and leading cancer researcher with a laboratory at Columbia University.
“SEngine’s technology deciphers the most potentially effective treatment for cancer patients by testing which of hundreds of drugs and unique drug combinations using patient-derived organoids are the most successful at killing the patient’s cancer,” Dr. Mukherjee remarked. “By testing on a patient’s tumor outside their body–versus giving the drug directly to the patient–SEngine’s approach promises to provide crucial information on treatment choices to a patient’s oncologist. This information will spare the patient from taking unnecessary drugs, sparing them side effects that may not help with one’s cancer. SEngine’s technology also creates a powerful platform to advance and discover new drugs, ultimately helping to save thousands of other cancer patients.”
SEngine Precision Medicine has the first and only lab in the United States to earn Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certification for a high-throughput, high-complexity test for all solid tumors. The test is named P.A.R.I.S.®, an analogy with Paris who defeated the Greek hero Achilles by precisely targeting his only weakness. The CLIA certification enables reporting to oncologists on the results of the test for treatment decisions.
“Dr. Mukherjee shares our vision of a future when every individual cancer patient receives the personalized treatment that is tailored and proven effective for their specific cancer cells,” said Dr. Carla Grandori, SEngine Precision Medicine Founder and CEO. “We’re proud to have Dr. Mukherjee, a forethinker, extraordinary communicator and esteemed leader in cancer, join our effort. Connecting patients to the right treatments with novel diagnostics will disrupt cancer management, and I believe that Siddhartha’s voice will help catalyze this change and guide SEngine on the right path of clinical validation.”
SEngine Precision Medicine also recently announced the addition of Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Lee Hartwell to the Board of Directors, a pioneer to propose synthetic lethality for cancer treatments and former Fred Hutch Cancer Research Center President. A cumulative investment of $8.2MM in the Seattle-based startup’s financing efforts includes a recent $3MM investment. SEngine will use the funds to apply the P.A.R.I.S.® test to clinical trials and advance its proprietary portfolio of targeted cancer drugs aimed at cancer vulnerabilities.
ABOUT SENGINE PRECISION MEDICINE: Founded in 2015, SEngine Precision Medicine is a privately-held biotech startup based in Seattle, WA and founded to identify and develop the next generation of cancer targeted drugs. Discover more at SengineMedicine.com and follow the latest news from SEngine on Twitter at @SEngineMedicine and on LinkedIn.
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