- Dr. Schmitz, General Partner of The March Fund and former Chief Science Officer of Mars, Incorporated is Provectus’ inaugural Scientific Advisory Board member
KNOXVILLE, TN, Sept. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Provectus (PVCT) today announced the addition of Dr. Harold Schmitz to the Company’s new Scientific Advisory Board. Provectus is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of drugs for oncology and dermatology based on an entire, wholly-owned, family of small molecules called halogenated xanthenes.
Dr. Schmitz is a General Partner of The March Fund, an investment fund dedicated to generating ‘wealth with a purpose’ and solving societal grand challenges by investing in companies at the intersection of food, health, and sustainability. He also serves as a Senior Scholar in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. Dr. Schmitz recently retired as Chief Science Officer of Mars, Incorporated and Director of the Mars Advanced Research Institute. In 2018, he was elected as a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, reflecting his current focus on food, health, and agriculture as well as the urgent need for collaboration and innovation to improve global health and environmental sustainability.
Prior to joining Mars in 1993, Dr. Schmitz was a United States Department of Agriculture National Needs Research Fellow at North Carolina State University’s Department of Food Science. He received his Master of Science degree in Food Science from the University of Illinois and his Doctoral degree in Food Science (with a minor in organic chemistry) from North Carolina State University. Dr. Schmitz received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in 1987 and was honored as the 2011 Outstanding Alumnus of the Dale Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food and Life Sciences.
Dr. Schmitz has authored and co-authored a number of peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, given numerous invited talks and presentations, organized and/or chaired a number of scientific meetings, and is a co-inventor on several granted patents (with particular emphasis on exploring the relationship between vascular biology and dietary constituents and generally the metabolism and function of dietary phytochemicals in modulating human health).
His focus on multidisciplinary collaborations led to a position on the Executive Committee of the National Academy of Sciences’ Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable from 2005 to 2013. Dr. Schmitz is a member of the National Research Advisory Board at Washington University in St. Louis, the Food Innovation Advisory Council at The Ohio State University, and the Board of Visitors (which advises the Chancellor) at North Carolina State University. Since 2007, he has also been active in the annual meetings of the Foundation Lindau Nobel Prize Winners Meetings at Lake Constance.
Dr. Schmitz’s current areas of interest focus broadly on the relationship between agriculture and food production in the context of social, cultural, ecological, environmental, and economic sustainability, as well as the unique role that multi-sector collaborations can play in solving challenges in this area.
Dominic Rodrigues, Vice Chair of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”), said, “We are honored to have Dr. Schmitz join our scientific advisory board as its inaugural member. His acceptance formalizes a longstanding interest in and understanding of Provectus’ science and technology. In addition to his deeply science-driven career, Dr. Schmitz’s experience in public policy development as well as inter-commercial, academic, and governmental relations are valuable knowledge centers for the Company.”
Ed Pershing, Board Chair, added, “Dr. Schmitz and Provectus share the core belief of confronting societal grand challenges to find efficient, effective, and accessible solutions for them. Improving global health and healthcare, by contributing to the defeat of cancer, needs more than just successful drug development. Ubiquitous success requires the different constituents of the health ecosystem to work together to deliver better, more affordable treatments for cancer patients, their families, and their caregivers.”
About PV-10
Provectus’ lead investigational oncology drug, PV-10, an intratumorally-delivered, lysosomal-targeting, cancer immunotherapy, can induce immunogenic cell death. The Company has shown that PV-10 selectively accumulates in the lysosomes of only cancer cells upon contact, disrupts them, and causes these diseased cells to die. PV-10 is undergoing clinical study for adult solid tumor cancers, like melanoma and cancers of the liver, and preclinical study for pediatric solid tumor and blood cancers. Orphan drug designation status has been granted to PV-10 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatments of metastatic melanoma in 2006, hepatocellular carcinoma in 2011, neuroblastoma in 2018, and ocular melanoma in 2019.
About PH-10
Provectus’ lead investigational dermatology drug, PH-10, a topically-applied, non-steroidal, small molecule-based gel, is undergoing clinical study for inflammatory dermatoses like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. PH-10 is self-applied to affected skin with photoactivation via ambient exposure to visible light. Pathways significantly improved by PH-10 treatment include published psoriasis transcriptomes and cellular responses mediated by IL-17, IL-22 and interferons.
About Provectus
Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Provectus or the Company) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company leading the development of a new class of drugs based on halogenated xanthenes, which are small molecule chemical agents. Information about the Company’s clinical trials can be found at the NIH registry, www.clinicaltrials.gov. For additional information about Provectus, please visit the Company’s website at www.provectusbio.com.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS: This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under U.S. federal securities laws. These statements reflect management’s current knowledge, assumptions, beliefs, estimates, and expectations and express management’s current views of future performance, results, and trends and may be identified by their use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “will,” and other similar terms. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from those described in the forward-looking statements. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Such statements are made as of the date hereof, and we undertake no obligation to update such statements after this date.
Risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to materially differ from those described in forward-looking statements include those discussed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (including those described in Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018).
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Contact:
Provectus Biopharmaceuticals, Inc.
Heather Raines, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Phone: (866) 594-5999
