SOTIO Establishes Strategic Advisory Board with world-renowned experts

June 29, 2017
Source: Press Release, Prague

SOTIO, a biotechnology company owned by the PPF Group, which develops innovative products for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, announced the creation of its Strategic Advisory Board today. SOTIO’s Advisory Board is comprised of internationally renowned experts in clinical research, translational medicine, business development and commercialization.

The Advisory Board consists of the following members: Kapil Dhingra, George Golumbeski, Daniel von Hoff and Pavel Mirovsky. The board will provide strategic advisory support and recommendations on SOTIO's clinical development programs, its pipeline of preclinical and clinical candidates and advice on its business and corporate development activities on the basis of its expertise in areas of direct relevance to SOTIO’s product development and corporate strategy. The Advisory Board will help shape and guide the future strategy of SOTIO, working closely with the management team and complementing SOTIO’s in-house expertise and resources in research and development, business development and commercialization.

Ladislav Bartonicek, CEO of SOTIO said, "SOTIO’s ambition is to build and develop a diverse portfolio of novel products for the treatment of different cancers. The newly-created Strategic Advisory Board comprising four world-class experts will play an important role in directing SOTIO’s strategy and will help us in our efforts to bring innovative products to patients. We are honored to have such distinguished and internationally recognized experts joining our Advisory Board.”

Profiles of SAB Members:

Kapil Dhingra, M.D., founded KAPital Consulting, LLC, in 2008, a company dedicated to helping biotechnology, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies realize the clinical and commercial advances in oncology. From 1999 to 2008, Dr. Dhingra served in various positions at Hoffmann-La Roche, including Vice President, Head, Oncology Disease Biology Leadership Team, and Head, Oncology Clinical Development. Prior to joining Roche, he worked at Eli Lilly and Company. Dr. Dhingra held faculty appointments, at various stages of his career, at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, at Indiana University School of Medicine and at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He serves on the Boards of Directors and as an advisor to several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations. Dr. Dhingra holds an MBBS (equivalent to US MD) degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and has performed postgraduate work at the AIIMS, the Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center (New York Medical College) and Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta GA.

George S. Golumbeski, Ph.D., has 20 years senior executive and business development experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, building R&D pipelines and experiencing all aspects of business and organizational development. He is currently Executive Vice President and Executive Advisor at Celgene Corporation. Previously at Celgene he was Executive Vice President of Business Development with responsibility for all business development activities: M&A, licensing, partnership activities, and alliance management. Earlier in his career, he served as Vice President of Business Development, Licensing and Strategy for Novartis-Oncology and held several business and corporate development positions in other biotechnology companies. Dr. Golumbeski completed his postdoctoral research in molecular biology at the University of Colorado-Boulder and received a BA in biology from the University of Virginia and a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., F.A.C.P. is currently Physician in Chief, Distinguished Professor, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and holds the Virginia G. Piper Distinguished Professor Chair for Innovative Cancer Research at the HonorHealth Research Institute. He also holds an appointment as Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic Scottsdale, AZ and is a Senior Consultant-Clinical Investigations for City of Hope. Dr. Von Hoff’s major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory, and he serves as a Scientific Advisor for several biotechnology companies. He received the 2010 David A. Karnofsky Memorial Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology for his outstanding contributions to cancer research leading to significant improvement in patient care. Dr. Von Hoff formerly served as the President of the American Association for Cancer Research and is a current Fellow of the American College of Physicians, as well as a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Dr. Von Hoff received his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York.

Pavel Mirovsky, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, is a medical doctor with a long-term pharmaceutical business career. He became President of Europe and General Manager of Europe at Valeant Pharmaceuticals, upon its acquisition of PharmaSwiss. Prior to joining PharmaSwiss, he served as regional General Manager at IMS for CEE, Near East/ Middle East, North Africa, Benelux, Nordics and Portugal. He also served as President and CEO of Polpharma and led Aventis' operations in MENA and CEE. Dr. Mirovsky worked as an expert for the World Health Organization in Africa and as a visiting scientist at Harvard Medical School. He obtained his MD, PhD, and Associate Professor degree from the Charles University in Prague and an MBA from the IFTG Prague. After graduation, he served in several positions at the Czech Academy of Sciences.