LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwired - December 07, 2015) - ITUS Corporation ("ITUS") (ITUS), today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Anixa Diagnostics Corporation, has added Dr. Michael Shepard to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Shepard is a pioneer in modern cancer research, whose many successes include work that lead to the discovery, development and launch of Herceptin, one of the best-selling cancer drugs of all time, used to treat breast cancer. Cumulative Herceptin sales have totaled more than $50 Billion, including sales in 2014 of greater than $7 Billion. Herceptin's approval opened the door for many other antibody therapies for cancer. For his work in this field, Dr. Shepard received the very prestigious Warren Alpert Prize, an annual award granted by The Warren Alpert Foundation, in association with Harvard Medical School, to scientists, physicians, and researchers, whose research constitutes a seminal scientific finding that holds great promise of ultimately changing our understanding of or ability to treat disease.
Dr. Amit Kumar, ITUS's Vice-Chairman and Anixa's Executive Chairman, said, "Our goal is to create a Scientific Advisory Board consisting of world renowned scientists and distinguished experts in the cancer field. Mike is a brilliant scientist with many years of experience working with solid tumors, and has co-founded and led several early stage companies with break through cancer technologies."
Dr. Shepard commented: "I am pleased to join Anixa's SAB. Early tumor detection can provide tremendous benefit to patients, especially to the millions of patients who are in remission and at high risk of recurrence. I am very intrigued by Anixa's approach to cancer detection, and I am looking forward to working with Dr. Kumar and contributing to the effort."
Dr. Shepard obtained his Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. He is a former Damon-Runyon Cancer Fellow. After Genentech and Herceptin, among other activities, Dr. Shepard cofounded Canji, Inc. (acquired by Schering-Plough); NewBiotics, (acquired by Kiadis Pharma), and Receptor Biologix, (acquired by Symphogen) All of these companies were working in oncology. Most recently Dr. Shepard was the Chief Science Officer of Halozyme Therapeutics where he was the scientific leader responsible for approval of subcutaneous Rituxan and subcutaneous Herceptin, both of which will untether patients from infusion clinics. Dr. Shepard also lead the scientific team to bring Halozyme's current drug candidate through Phase 2 clinical trials and also developed the companion diagnostic, enabling the identification of patients that will respond well to the drug.