SAN DIEGO, CA, May 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Inc. (EHP or the Company), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of medicines to treat diseases with unmet medical needs, has expanded its Scientific Advisory Board with the appointment of neuroscience expert and innovator, Eduardo Candelario-Jalil, PhD.
“We are honored to have Dr. Candelario-Jalil join our Scientific Advisory Board as we advance our research and clinical programs,” said Eduardo Muñoz, MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer of EHP. “His expertise and innovative work in neuroinflammatory mechanisms adds greatly to our outstanding team of world-class scientific experts, which includes Professor Giovanni Appendino, PhD, a key opinion leader in chemistry, and Rao Movva, PhD, a Novartis Distinguished Scientist.”
Jim DeMesa, MD, MBA, EHP’s President and CEO added, “The addition of Dr. Candelario-Jalil will further expand and strengthen our ability to guide the development of our proprietary molecules with unique capabilities that can potentially modify and reverse disease progression in patients suffering from devastating neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases. We look forward to his contributions as we continue to advance our learning and development efforts to more powerfully affect the pathways of these challenging diseases to achieve better therapeutic outcomes.”
In addition to Dr. Candelario-Jalil’s contribution to the EHP Scientific Advisory Board, he has also been instrumental in performing preclinical studies in his laboratories at the University of Florida related to the use of the Company’s technology for the potential treatment of stroke.
Eduardo Candelario-Jalil, PhD is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida. Dr. Candelario-Jalil’s research spans nineteen years of work in neuropharmacology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. His current research activities are focused on identifying novel molecular targets to reduce blood-brain barrier (BBB) damage following ischemic stroke. Additionally, Dr. Candelario-Jalil directs an active research program with important translational potential, funded by two R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with research focused on understanding neuroinflammatory mechanisms following ischemic stroke utilizing biochemical, cellular, genetic, pharmacological, and MRI multi-modal approaches. Dr. Candelario-Jalil has authored 69 original peer-reviewed publications, 11 invited review articles, and three book chapters, and has made significant contributions to the understanding of neuroinflammatory mechanisms in ischemic stroke.
In addition to Dr. Candelario-Jalil, the EHP Scientific Advisory Board includes:
Rao Movva, PhD: an experienced scientist from the biotech and large pharmaceutical industry, having worked since the very early years of biotechnology at Biogen and at Novartis as Executive Director. Dr. Movva and his collaborators have uncovered the mechanism of action of many natural compounds to advance them as leads for drug discovery. Dr. Movva was recognized in 2012 as a Novartis Distinguished Scientist for his significant contributions to drug discovery. Dr. Movva initiated and pioneered the chemical biology efforts that led to the discovery and the understanding of the biological targets of rapamycin, the TOR pathways, in collaboration with Drs. Joseph Heitman and Mike Hall at Biozentrum, Basel. This significant milestone led to advancing the currently marketed drugs and highlighted novel therapeutic opportunities that are actively pursued by many biotech companies. Dr. Movva received his PhD in Molecular Biology from SUNY at Stony Brook, New York.
Giovanni Appendino, PhD: Professor of Organic Chemistry at the Università del Piemonte Orientale, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Novara (Italy), since 2000. Research activity in his laboratories takes inspiration from plant natural products to address problems in various realms of biomedical investigation, from pharmacology and nutrition (new drug leads and health-promoting dietary ingredients) to organic/medicinal chemistry (new synthetic methodologies and optimization of natural product drug leads) and cell biology (novel mechanisms of action). Author of over 350 peer-reviewed articles and 15 book chapters on the chemistry and bioactivity of plant natural products. Editor-in-Chief of the journal Fitoterapia and member of the Advisory Board of the PharmaNutrition, Natural Products Reports, Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, and Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products. Recipient of the Rhône-Poulenc Rorer Award of the Phytochemical Society of Europe (1991), the Medaglia Quilico of the Società Chimica Italiana (2009) and the Bruker Prize of the Phytochemical Society of Europe in 2014 for his studies on bioactive natural products.
Eduardo Muñoz, MD, PhD (EHP Chief Scientific Officer and Scientific Advisory Board Chairman): Professor of Immunology in the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology of the University of Córdoba (Spain) and Director of the inflammation and cancer research group at the Institute Maimonides for Biomedical Research of Córdoba. Dr. Muñoz has more than 30 years of experience in biomedical research, and is the author of nearly 200 articles, patents, and book chapters with more than 6,000 citations. He is an expert in the mechanism of action of cannabinoids and endocannabinoids as well as in the discovery of cannabinoid-based new chemical entities. Dr. Muñoz belongs to the editorial board of several scientific journals and is a co-founder of three biotech companies, VivaCell Biotechnology (Spain), InnoHealth Group (Spain) and Glactone Pharma AB (Sweden). He received a PhD in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Córdoba and was an associate researcher at Tufts University in Boston, and at the Institute Pasteur in Paris.
About Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Emerald Health Pharmaceuticals is developing product candidates derived from cannabinoids for the treatment of CNS, autoimmune, and other diseases. The Company has two families of patented new chemical entities, derived from synthetic cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG), that it has modified through rational drug design to affect validated receptors and pathways pertinent to targeted diseases. Its first drug product candidate, EHP-101, has entered into a Phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of systemic sclerosis, a severe form of scleroderma, and multiple sclerosis. Its second product candidate, EHP-102, is in preclinical development and is focused on treating Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease. EHP-101 has received Orphan Drug Designation in the US and EU for systemic sclerosis and EHP-102 has received Orphan Drug Designation in the US and EU for Huntington’s disease. For more information, visit http://www.emeraldpharma.life or contact info@emeraldpharma.life.
Forward Looking Statements
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