Ziopharm Oncology Appoints Four Additional Members to Scientific Advisory Board

BOSTON, Sept. 15, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ziopharm Oncology, Inc. (“Ziopharm” or “the Company”) (Nasdaq: ZIOP), today announced the appointment of four additional members to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The SAB, under the leadership of Carl June, M.D. as chairman, will provide strategic and scientific counsel to guide development of Ziopharm’s pipeline of immunotherapies to treat patients with solid tumors.

The newly appointed members are:

• Adi Barzel, Ph.D., President of the Israeli Society of Gene and Cell Therapy; Senior Lecturer, Department of Biochemistry, School of NeuroBiology, Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tel Aviv University
• Gavin Dunn, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery, Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs, Washington University School of Medicine
• Matthew Porteus, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pediatrics (Stem Cell Transplantation), Stanford University
• Kole Roybal, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, San Francisco; member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center

“We are pleased to welcome Drs. Barzel, Dunn, Porteus and Roybal as our scientific advisors to guide the development of our programs,” said Laurence Cooper, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Ziopharm. “Their extensive experience and knowledge of immunology will help advance Ziopharm’s immunotherapies toward our goal of treating any solid tumor. I look forward to collaborating closely with these notable experts.”

Dr. June added, “Each of our new members brings unparalleled experience in their respective fields, granting us the ability to be resourceful and strategic. I look forward to working with this team as we help guide the Company in advancing its pipeline of promising immunotherapies.”

Dr. Adi Barzel serves as the President of the Israeli Society of Gene and Cell Therapy and the Chair of the International Conference on Lymphocyte Engineering (ICLE). In 2016, he was appointed Senior Lecturer at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Tel Aviv University. In August 2014, Dr. Barzel co-founded the gene therapy start-up company LogicBio Therapeutics, which is developing durable cures for serious rare diseases based on the technology he developed during his postdoctoral research at Stanford University.

Dr. Gavin Dunn is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurological Surgery, with an appointment in the Department of Pathology and Immunology, at Washington University. He is also a member of the Andrew M. and Jane M. Bursky Center for Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Programs. Dr. Dunn’s laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular basis of the immune response to glioblastoma in preclinical and translational settings.

Dr. Matthew Porteus is considered one of the pioneers and founders of the field of genome editing. He is an attending physician at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital where he treats pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. After earning his combined M.D., Ph.D. at Stanford Medical School, Dr. Porteus completed his postdoctoral training in homologous recombination as a curative therapy for children with genetic diseases, where his focus still remains.

Dr. Kole Roybal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, San Francisco, and a full member of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. After receiving a doctorate in Immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, Dr. Roybal moved to Wendell Lim's lab and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. There he developed Synthetic Notch, a new class of synthetic receptors for cell therapies for cancer, autoimmunity and regenerative medicine.

About Ziopharm Oncology, Inc.
Ziopharm is developing non-viral and cytokine-driven cell and gene therapies that weaponize the body’s immune system to treat the millions of people globally diagnosed with a solid tumor each year. With its multiplatform approach, Ziopharm is at the forefront of immuno-oncology with a goal to treat any type of solid tumor. Ziopharm’s pipeline is built for commercially scalable, cost effective T-cell receptor T-cell therapies based on its non-viral Sleeping Beauty gene transfer platform, a precisely controlled IL-12 gene therapy, and rapidly manufactured Sleeping Beauty-enabled CD19-specific CAR-T program. The Company has clinical and strategic partnerships with the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and others. For more information, please visit www.ziopharm.com

Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts, and in some cases can be identified by terms such as "may," "will," "could," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and "believes." These statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's business, strategic and commercialization plans, including its goal of treating all solid tumors. Although Ziopharm’s management team believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Ziopharm, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include among other things, changes in our operating plans that may impact our cash expenditures, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, future clinical data and analysis, including whether any of Ziopharm’s product candidates will advance further in the preclinical research or clinical trial process, including receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies to conduct clinical trials and whether and when, if at all, they will receive final approval from the U.S. FDA or equivalent foreign regulatory agencies and for which indication; the strength and enforceability of Ziopharm’s intellectual property rights; competition from other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as risk factors discussed or identified in the public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made by Ziopharm, including those risks and uncertainties listed in Ziopharm’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed by Ziopharm with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We are providing this information as of the date of this press release, and Ziopharm does not undertake any obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or any other reason.

Investor Relations Contacts:
Ziopharm Oncology:                                                              
Chris Taylor                                                                           
VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
T: 617.502.1881
E: ctaylor@ziopharm.com

LifeSci Advisors:                                                                    
Mike Moyer
Managing Director
T:  617.308.4306
E: mmoyer@lifescicomms.com       

Media Relations Contact:
LifeSci Communications:
Patrick Bursey
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E: pbursey@lifescicomms.com

Source: ZIOPHARM Oncology Inc