SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 11, 2023 / Jaguar Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAGX) and its wholly owned subsidiary Napo Pharmaceuticals (Napo) today announced that Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, FASCO has joined the Jaguar/Napo Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).
"We are thrilled that Dr. Swain has joined our SAB," said Pravin Chaturvedi, PhD, Napo and Jaguar's Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board and Chief Scientific Officer. "She is an internationally renowned physician/scientist and has more than 30 years of experience in clinical trial design, implementation and execution of major international clinical trials, including and especially breast cancer. She brings a critical perspective that will augment our clinical development program focused on addressing the high unmet need of cancer therapy-related diarrhea (CTD). Her participation will buttress our efforts to mitigate the unrecognized burden of diarrhea in cancer patients. She has been a pioneer in addressing the gastrointestinal toxicities of cancer therapies, as evidenced by her design and execution of the HALT-D trial, a first prophylactic study of crofelemer in HER2-positive breast cancer patients receiving targeted therapies with standard chemotherapy. The results from the HALT-D trial were published last year. Her recognition of the burden of CTD on patients as well as the need for prophylaxis of CTD provide further support to our ongoing OnTarget phase 3 trial. We welcome Dr. Swain to our SAB and her input and advice will augment our continued pioneering efforts to address CTD."
Lisa Conte, Jaguar's founder, president and CEO added, "Dr. Swain's focus on patient comfort and dignity is admirable and has a direct benefit on the outcome of the treatment of cancer. The patient community benefits from her vision and leadership."
Dr. Swain is the Associate Dean for Research Development and Professor of Medicine at the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) and the Vice President of Genetic Medicine for MedStar Health in Washington, DC. Previously she held leadership roles at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Washington Cancer Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. She has served on the Board of Directors for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and is a past President of ASCO (2012-2013. Dr. Swain is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and ASCO. She currently serves as a member of the board of Seagen and Conquer Cancer Foundation Board of ASCO and chairs the Women Who Conquer Cancer committee. Dr. Swain has published more than 335 articles, many on clinical trials in breast cancer and is a Visiting Professor of Clinical Oncology in the Medical Sciences Division at the University of Oxford in the UK. Dr. Swain graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from the University of North Carolina and earned a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) from the University of Florida. She completed her residency in Internal Medicine at Vanderbilt University and a fellowship in Medical Oncology at the NCI, NIH. She has previously served as the Deputy Branch Chief for the Medicine Branch of the Center for Cancer Research at the NCI. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center; actively participates in the NRG Breast Committee; and co-chairs the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group Steering Committee, in Oxford, UK.
About Cancer Therapy-related Diarrhea
A significant proportion of patients undergoing cancer therapy experience diarrhea, and diarrhea has the potential to cause dehydration, potential infections, and non-adherence to treatment in this population. Novel "targeted cancer therapy" agents, such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibodies and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), with or without cycle chemotherapy agents, may cause increased electrolyte and fluid content in the gut lumen, which results in passage of loose/watery stools (i.e., diarrhea). Diarrhea has been reported as one of the most common side effects of TKIs and may result in cancer therapy drug holidays or reductions from therapeutic dose, potentially impacting patient outcome. Diarrhea is also a common side effect of some approved CDK 4/6 inhibitors.
About Jaguar Health, Jaguar Animal Health, Napo Pharmaceuticals, & Napo Therapeutics
Jaguar Health, Inc. is a commercial stage pharmaceuticals company focused on developing novel, plant-based, non-opioid, and sustainably derived prescription medicines for people and animals with GI distress, including chronic, debilitating diarrhea. Jaguar Animal Health is a tradename of Jaguar Health. Jaguar Health's wholly owned subsidiary, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., focuses on developing and commercializing proprietary plant-based human pharmaceuticals from plants harvested responsibly from rainforest areas. Our crofelemer drug product candidate is the subject of the OnTarget study, an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for prophylaxis of diarrhea in adult cancer patients receiving targeted therapy. Jaguar Health is the majority shareholder of Napo Therapeutics S.p.A. (f/k/a Napo EU S.p.A.), an Italian corporation established by Jaguar Health in Milan, Italy in 2021 that focuses on expanding crofelemer access in Europe.
For more information about Jaguar Health, please visit https://jaguar.health. For more information about Napo Pharmaceuticals, visit www.napopharma.com. For more information about Napo Therapeutics, visit napotherapeutics.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements." In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "aim," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this release are only predictions. Jaguar has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, some of which cannot be predicted or quantified and some of which are beyond Jaguar's control. Except as required by applicable law, Jaguar does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
Contact:
Peter Hodge
Jaguar Health, Inc.
[email protected]
Jaguar-JAGX
SOURCE: Jaguar Health, Inc.