Drug development company InNexus Biotechnology Inc. (TSX: IXS / OTCBB: IXSBF) made headlines today when it announced that Dr. Ellen S. Vitetta, an expert in immunological research, has joined the company’s newly formed Scientific Advisory Board.According to the company’s latest press release, Dr. Vitetta will join such fine minds as Dr. J. Donald Capra, president emeritus of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation; InNexus SAB Chairman Dr. Thomas Kindt; Dr. John D. Minna, professor and director of the Hamon Center for Therapeutic Oncology Research at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas; and Dr. Carlos L. Arteaga, vice chancellor’s chair in Breast Cancer Research and professor of Medicine and Cancer Biology at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“I’m honored and excited to have Ellen join our Scientific Advisory Board,” Jeff Morhet, InNexus’ president and CEO said in the press release. “She has carried out bench-to-bedsite ‘transitional’ research and today stands atop her field. Our team members and science will benefit from having her on the InNexus team.”
And Morhet’s excitement is justified; Dr. Vitetta has a list of accomplishments and titles that dwarfs those of most universities. In addition to being a professor of microbiology and director of the Cancer Immunobiology Center, she holds the Sheryle Simmons Patigian Distinguished Chair in Cancer Immunobiology and is a distinguished teaching professor. She’s published 475 papers, edited several books, is a co-inventor on 13 issued patents, has developed antibody-based immunotoxins that can destroy cancer cells and cells infected with HIV, and is a member of more academies and medical societies than can be reasonably listed in an article of this size.
Share prices for InNexus actually dropped after the news was released; share prices fell 2.04 percent from 49 cents a share to 48 cents.