We welcomed Prof. David Brautigan to his first meeting at our Science Advisory Board

David travelled from Charlottesville, Virginia to visit Machavert headquarters at Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, CO to meet our new CSO, Neal Goodwin and to participate in a meeting of our Science Advisory Board. We previously had some great discussions about Machavert’s science with David, who made some valuable comments and suggestions. We especially appreciate his insights regarding our leading drug MP1000, proposing NKT-cell activation as a mechanism of action.

David told us: “The possible activation of NKT-cells by Machavert’s phospholipid formulation is a really exciting development. This represents a novel type of immune-oncology treatment. Moreover, combining this immune-modulation with drug delivery properties of phospholipid nanoparticles has immense potential in cancer treatment.”

Although pursuit of the mechanism of action is really attractive, David stresses that the main focus of Machavert should be to finish the drug development process and file an investigational new drug application (IND) as soon as possible.  Also, we all agreed that our nanoparticulate phospholipid formulation could be employed for drug delivery.  That holds great promise for the future of Machavert.

David is the F. Palmer Weber endowed chair for medical research and since 1994 has been Director of the Center for Cell Signaling in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. His research has explored cell signaling and protein phosphorylation, focused on the biochemistry of phosphatase and kinase enzymes. David has particular interests in assay development and novel cancer therapies and has supported commercial distribution of over a dozen licensed research reagents from his laboratory. He has authored more than 240 scientific articles, including in Nature, Science and Cancer Research. He was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and serves on the editorial board for scientific journals, an advisor for programs and centers at Virginia and other Universities, and on scientific advisory boards for businesses and foundations. He has more than 30 years experience as a consultant for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. We are delighted to have him as a member of our Machavert Science Advisory Board.