GAITHERSBURG, Md., Feb. 20, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- VIRxSYS Corporation announced today that Gerard McGarrity, Ph.D., has joined the company as Executive Vice President of Scientific and Clinical Affairs. McGarrity will focus on the continued development of VRX496, the Company's initial product by managing the product development and implementation of VIRxSYS' clinical trials. The Company's first application of its novel lentiviral vector technology is an HIV gene therapy, VRX496, which has completed Phase I clinical trials. VIRxSYS currently has underway two separate Phase II trials to test the safety and tolerability of single and repeated doses of VRX496. Preliminary results from these trials will be available in 2007. In preclinical and Phase I clinical studies, VRX496 has been able to deliver genes permanently, reproducibly and efficiently to human cells without toxicity or serious adverse events, such as immunogenicity or insertional oncogenesis (cancer) which plagued earlier gene therapy trials.
The early success of VRX496 has prompted the Company to investigate other applications of their novel lentiviral vector technology. McGarrity will oversee the expansion of VIRxSYS' product pipeline by applying the Company's lentiviral vector technology to other therapeutic areas.
"We are extremely fortunate to have Dr. McGarrity on board. He has broad experience in gene therapy and specific scientific knowledge of genetic medicine," said Dr. Riku Rautsola, President and CEO of VIRxSYS. "We recognize the challenges of moving a drug through Phase II and Phase III clinical trials and believe Dr. McGarrity's experience will be a tremendous advantage for our company."
Prior to joining VIRxSYS, McGarrity served as President and CEO of Intronn Inc. for six years. Prior to that role, McGarrity was Founding Chief Scientific Officer of Cambridge Genetics Ltd. in Cambridge, UK, which purchased Cambridge Drug Discovery and was eventually sold to Biofocus plc. McGarrity also served as Senior Vice President of Genetic Therapy, Inc./Novartis where he led several gene therapy products to clinical trials. McGarrity has served as a consultant to a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, including Genentech, Abbott, and Celltech, among others. He served two terms on the National Institutes of Health's Recombinant Advisory Committee (RAC) and was Chair of the RAC when the committee formulated policies for human trials in gene therapy. He has authored more than 160 publications and holds five patents with additional patents pending. McGarrity received his B.S. degree from Saint Joseph's University and his Ph.D. from Thomas Jefferson University, both in Philadelphia
About VIRxSYS
Founded in 1998, VIRxSYS is a private biotechnology company that focuses on the development of a novel lentiviral vector platform technology for the treatment of serious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. The Company has exclusively licensed its patented, proprietary technology platform from The Johns Hopkins University (JHU) in Baltimore, Maryland where the original research was conducted. The Company also has been issued additional patents relating to the application and manufacture of the technology. More information regarding VIRxSYS can be found at www.virxsys.com. Details for the Phase II study may be found at the NIH clinical trials website at clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00131560.