STOCKHOLM, Sweden, July 30, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biovitrum today announced the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board. The Board will assist Biovitrum's management in the development of the Company's innovative research and technologies from which novel therapeutics for the treatment of obesity and diabetes are already in clinical trials.
Five world-renowned scientists form Biovitrum's Scientific Advisory Board as follows:
Hans Wigzell MD, PhD, Hans Wigzell is the President of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm where he is also Professor of Immunology. He has been a member of the Nobel Assembly since 1984 and chaired the Nobel Prize Committee from 1990 to 1992. Professor Wigzell will be chair of the advisory board.
K. Barry Sharpless PhD, Barry Sharpless is Professor of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions.
Ralf Pettersson MD, PhD, has been Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm since 1986 and adjunct Professor of Molecular Biology at the Karolinska Institute. Professor Pettersson has been a member of the Nobel Prize Committee since 1990 and served as chairman of the committee between1998 and 2000.
Hannele YkiJarvinen MD, is Professor of Medicine at the University of Helsinki and Nordic Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
Steve O'Rahilly MD, PhD, is Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Cambridge, a joint position between the Departments of Clinical Biochemistry and Medicine and honorary consultant physician at Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Mats Pettersson, Chief Executive Officer of Biovitrum, said: "With the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board of such quality and with such exceptional skills we are underlining our commitment to the highest standards in industry and our ambition to be a significant world force in biotechnology"
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Notes to Editors:
About Biovitrum
Biovitrum is a private Swedish drug discovery company active within research and development of small molecule therapeutics and recombinant proteins. The research is focused on metabolic disorders, such as diabetes and obesity, but also covers other selected therapeutic areas. ReFacto (a recombinant factor VIII treatment for hemophilia), acquired by Wyeth provides the company with substantial revenues from royalty, copromotion and supply arrangements. Formerly a division within the global pharmaceutical company Pharmacia Corporation, Biovitrum is one of the largest biotech companies in Europe with close to 400 scientists.
Further details on the members of Biovitrum's Scientific Advisory Board:
Hans Wigzell MD, PhD, chairman
Hans Wigzell is the President of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm where he is also Professor of Immunology. He has been a member of the Nobel Assembly since 1984 and chaired the Nobel Prize Committee from 1990 to 1992.
Hans Wigzell was Professor of Immunology, Uppsala University from 1972 to 1982 and General Director of the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control from 1986 to 1991.
Professor Wigzell has received numerous prestigious scientific prizes and awards, such as Anders Jahre's Award from Oslo University, Erik Fernstrom Award from Uppsala University and the San Marino Scientific Award. Professor Wigzell has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tor Vergata, Rome and is also a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Engineering Sciences, the American Academy of Science, the Danish Academy of Science and the Finnish Academy of Sciences. He is a lifelong Honorary Member of the American Association of Immunologists, a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and also Academia Europea.
Professor Wigzell has been the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister since 1999, Chairman of WHOUNAIDS HIVvaccine committee and a member of EUcommissioner P. Busquin's European Life Science Group.
Hans Wigzell is serving on a number of Editorial Boards and Scientific Advisory Boards. He has authored more than 500 articles in scientific journals. His main research interests are tumor biology, cellular immunology, infectious immunology and autoimmunity.
K. Barry Sharpless PhD
Barry Sharpless is Professor of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute. In 2001, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions.
He was Professor of Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1970 to1977 and again from 1980 to 1990 and at Stanford University from 1977 to 1980. Professor Sharpless is a member of the National Academy of Science, Honorary Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) and has received numerous scientific prizes and awards, including the Richards Medal, the Carothers Award, the Prelog Medal, ETH, Switzerland, the Chemical Pioneer award from the American Institute of Chemists, The Scheele Medal from the Swedish Academy of Pharma Sciences, the King Faisal Prize for Science, Saudi Arabia, the Chemical Sciences Award from the National Academy of Science, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal. He holds honorary doctorates at Dartmouth College, The Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, the Technical University, Munich, the Catholic University of Louvain, and Wesleyan University. Professor Sharpless is member of numerous editorial and Advisory Boards
Ralf Pettersson MD, PhD
Ralf Pettersson has been Director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Stockholm since 1986 and adjunct Professor of Molecular Biology at the Karolinska Institute. Professor Pettersson has been a member of the Nobel Prize Committee since 1990 and served as chairman of the committee between1998 and 2000.
Professor Pettersson is a Member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, the Finnish Academy of Sciences and Letters, the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), the Academia Europaea and the Council of the European Life Scientist Organization (ELSO). He is an Honorary Professor at the Moscow State University and is Doctor Honoris Causa in Medicine at the University of Oulu.
He received his MD degree in 1971 and PhD degree in 1974 at the University of Helsinki. His past and present research interests cover molecular virology (structure and replication of viruses), cell biology (in particular intracellular protein transport and compartmentalization) and angiogenesis. He was President of the International Virology Organization from1993 to1996 and has served on many scientific advisory boards, including presently the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the Institute of Biotechnology at the University of Helsinki, the Juselius Foundation (Chairman) and the Academy of Finland Centers of Excellence in Disease Genetics in Cancer Biology (Chairman) and in Neurobiology.
Hannele YkiJarvinen MD
Hannele YkiJarvinen is Professor of Medicine at the University of Helsinki and Nordic Professor at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
She received her MD in 1981 and her Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians in London in 1999. She is a specialist in Endocrinology and Internal Medicine and is Chief Physician for the Division of Diabetology at the University of Helsinki Hospital.
Professor YkiJarvinen has received several international awards including the 28th Minkowski Award in 1993, the Anders Jahre Prize in 1995 and the Novartis Award in Diabetes in 1999. She has served on a number of Editorial Boards and Scientific Advisory Boards including the EASD council and the Diabetologia Editorial Board and chaired the Program Committee of the 16th International Diabetes Federation (IDF) meeting in 1997. She has published more than 150 original articles and 50 reviews, covering different aspects of diabetes. Her major research interests include causes and consequences of insulin resistance in humans and insulin treatment in type 2 diabetes.
Steve O'Rahilly MD, PhD
Steve O'Rahilly is Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Cambridge, U.K., and is also an honorary consultant physician at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
Professor O'Rahilly graduated in medicine in 1981 from University College Dublin and obtained his postgraduate training in general medicine and endocrinology in London, Oxford and Boston. He came to Cambridge in 1991 as a Wellcome Trust Senior Clinical Fellow and was appointed Professor in 1996. He serves on several Editorial Boards and Scientific Advisory Boards and has published extensively in the areas of the molecular pathogenesis of insulin resistance and obesity and type 2 diabetes. His laboratory was the first to demonstrate that defects in single genes can cause severe human obesity. He has received many national and international awards including the 2001 Novartis International Award for diabetes research and the 2001 European Journal of Endocrinology Prize.
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