VALLEJO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Riptide Bioscience, Inc., today announced that Dame Carol M. Black, FRCP, MACP, FMedSci, Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine USA, renowned clinician/scientist and eminent expert in systemic sclerosis, has joined the company’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
Dr. Black has led the Scleroderma Research Program at University College London (UCL), and the clinical arm at its affiliated hospital, The Royal Free in Hampstead. Together, these institutions are Europe’s largest centers for both research and treatment in scleroderma.
For three years, Riptide has worked in collaboration with UCL clinicians to evaluate the potential of Riptide’s drug candidate, RP832c, in the treatment of systemic scleroderma (SSc). This is a highly complex debilitating disorder afflicting some 100,000 patients in the United States alone, which often progresses to internal organs, resulting in pronounced disability and sometimes death.
“Today, scleroderma patients have few alternatives for halting and sometimes reversing the progress of the disease,” remarked Dr. Black. “For that reason I have been particularly gratified by the impressive results of the Riptide drug in multiple preclinical models, both in vitro and in vivo. I’m happy to be of counsel to the UCL – Riptide team as we move this important new approach into the clinic.” UCL clinicians are working with Riptide on a Phase 1b clinical trial protocol.
Dame Carol’s achievements range beyond scleroderma research to broader impact on health and welfare policy. She previously headed the Royal College of Physicians, Britain’s leading body of professionals on internal medicine, and served as the United Kingdom’s National Director for Health and Work. She was ‘knighted’ in 2005 for services to medicine, and in 2018 became chairperson of the British Library, one of the world’s foremost. In 2019 she became Chair of the UK Government’s Centre for Ageing Better.
Riptide President George Martin, Ph.D. noted, “We’re delighted to welcome Dr. Black to Riptide’s advisory board. We’re convinced that the immunomodulatory program at Riptide has outstanding promise, not only in scleroderma but in a number of other fibrotic and inflammatory conditions, including certain solid tumor types. Dr. Black combines a profound understanding of the disease mechanism and clinical outcomes, with years of experience in bringing novel technology to the bedside and to the larger health care system. Her expertise will be invaluable.”
Distinguished Scientific Advisory Board (SAB)
Dame Carol Black joins a distinguished and active set of members of Riptide’s SAB, chaired by Dr. Donald Kennedy. Dr. Kennedy is a former head of the US Food and Drug Administration, President emeritus of Stanford University, and editor-in-chief of Science magazine.
Riptide’s SAB also includes Frank McCormick, PhD, FRS, Professor at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, leader of the U.S. National Institute of Health initiative to address KRAS-driven cancers, and co-founder of Onyx Pharmaceuticals, acquired by Amgen for $10 billion in 2013.
Riptide’s scientific program is led by President Dr. George Martin, himself a noted expert in fibrosis. Dr. Martin, previously the Scientific Director of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, was the Chief Scientific Officer and second employee of FibroGen, now a $3 billion company.
About Riptide Bioscience
Riptide Bioscience, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing novel peptide therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory diseases, and bacterial infections. Riptide’s peptides are based on key structures of naturally occurring host-defense peptides, but engineered to have many times the efficacy of the natural compounds. The company has shown the potential of its novel peptides to fight infection in acute disease, to modulate the activity of tumor-associated macrophages to fight cancer, and to moderate harmful inflammation in chronic conditions like scleroderma and other fibrotic diseases. Riptide is now preparing to initiate human clinical testing of its peptides, initially as a potential treatment for scleroderma. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.riptidebio.com.
