Lutris Pharma Appoints Company Founder, Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., as Chairman of the Board of Directors

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lutris Pharma, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving anti-cancer therapies by reducing dose limiting side effects, today announced that Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Ribas, Founder of Lutris Pharma, has been a director of the company since its inception.

"As founder of Lutris Pharma, there is nobody more closely connected to our vision, technology and pipeline including lead program, LUT014, a proprietary, topical, first-in-class, novel B-Raf inhibitor, currently in a phase 2 trial for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) treated with Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) inhibitors, and a phase 1/2 trial for the treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis in patients with breast cancer," stated Noa Shelach, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Lutris Pharma. "Toni is known for the enormous impact he has made in the discovery and development of new and effective treatments for malignant melanoma, in particular. His experience and significant influence within the field of cancer research and immunotherapy has been punctuated by his contributions to the successful development of a number of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved anti-cancer therapies including Keytruda®, and we are, without question, privileged to have him at the helm as Chairman of the Board."

Dr. Ribas added, "The market for EGFR inhibitors is currently estimated at $10.0 billion, annually, but the use of this class of drugs is limited by the on-target side effect of acneiform rash, a condition that has no currently approved drug therapy. Data from preclinical, early- and mid-stage trials, thus far, show that topically applied LUT014 meaningfully reduces the debilitating cutaneous side effects of EGFR inhibitors that occur in approximately 75% of patients undergoing this therapy, underscoring the tremendous unmet need that LUT014 represents. Likewise, of the 9 million annual radiation therapies given to patients with cancer, approximately half develop radiation-induced dermatitis, another condition that has no currently approved treatment. Early Lutris data also show that LUT014 can greatly reduce radiation-induced dermatitis in patients with breast cancer. I am extremely encouraged by our findings to date and look forward to further assisting Lutris Pharma in progressing these programs, and to the ultimate commercialization of LUT014 for these indications."

Dr. Ribas, past-president of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), is Professor of Medicine, Professor of Surgery, and Professor of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and Director of the Tumor Immunology Program at the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC). During his career, Dr. Ribas has been instrumental in the clinical development of several FDA-approved anti-cancer agents including pembrolizumab (Keytruda®), vemurafenib (Zelboraf®), cobimetinib (Cotellic®), dabrafenib (Tafinlar®) and trametinib (Mekinist®). Trained at the University of Barcelona, with postdoctoral research and clinical fellowships at UCLA, Dr. Ribas is a physician-scientist who conducts laboratory and clinical research in malignant melanoma, focusing on gene engineered adoptive cell transfer (ACT) therapies, anti-CTLA4 antibodies, anti-PD-1 antibodies, BRAF and MEK inhibitors. During his tenure as president of the AACR, he established and chaired the AACR COVID-19 and Cancer Task Force. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the AACR-CRI Lloyd J. Old Award in Cancer Immunology, the AACR Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award, two National Cancer Institute (NCI) Outstanding Investigator Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Melanoma Research (SMR), ESMO Award for Translational Research, William B. Coley Award in Basic and Tumor Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI), and has a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel). Dr. Ribas is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), a Fellow of the AACR Academy, and an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM).

About Lutris Pharma

Lutris Pharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on improving anti-cancer therapy effectiveness and quality of life for patients who are being treated with EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor) inhibitors or with radiation, where dermal toxicity often leads to a reduction of anti-cancer therapy compliance. The company aims to provide novel topical therapies in order to mitigate these side effects. Lutris Pharma's lead asset, LUT014, a topical B-Raf Inhibitor, is a proprietary, first-in-class, small molecule currently in a phase 2 clinical trial in metastatic colorectal cancer patients with EGFR inhibitor induced acneiform lesions and a phase 1/2 study for the treatment of radiation-induced dermatitis in breast cancer patients. For more information, please visit www.lutris-pharma.com.

Contacts:

Lutris Pharma
Noa Shelach, Ph.D. 
Chief Executive Officer 
ir@lutris-pharma.com

Rx Communications Group
Michael Miller
+1-917-633-6086
mmiller@rxir.com

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