Clarity Pharmaceuticals, an Australian radiopharmaceutical company focused on the treatment of serious disease, has announced the appointment of Professor Richard Wahl to its scientific advisory group.
Professor Wahl is the Elizabeth Mallinckrodt Professor, chairman of the Department of Radiology and director of the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis.
He is a leader in the field of targeted radiopharmaceuticals for diagnosing and treating cancer.
"With an emphasis on positron emission tomography (PET) and multi-modality imaging, such as PET-CT, his work enabled precision diagnosis of a broad array of human cancers and other serious diseases," said the company.
Professor Wahl is one of the inventors of radio-immunotherapy of lymphoma, which is a combination of radiotherapy and immunotherapy that facilitates targeted treatments. He has also been an inventor of a number of FDA approved medical devices, such as radionuclide guided biopsy.
He was previously Professor of Radiology and Oncology, as well as the Henry N. Wagner Jr. Professor of Nuclear Medicine, at Johns Hopkins University. He was also Director of Nuclear Medicine, PET and the Vice Chair for Technology and Business Development.
Professor Wahl holds 18 radiology patents and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed scientific papers and several books.
“Clarity has made a significant contribution to the development and use of copper radio isotopes for diagnosis and therapy of cancer and other serious diseases," said Professor Wahl on his appointment.
"I am very excited about the potential of copper to answer a number of the limitations of radiopharmaceuticals today. I also believe that, through separate arrangements, Washington University in St. Louis is well placed to position itself as a key area of research, clinical trials and manufacturing for copper based products. I am eager to advise the Company, in my personal capacity as a consultant, on the development of its pipeline and application of their technology to new indications.”
Dr Alan Taylor, executive chairman of Clarity, said, “Richard is a world leader in the radiopharmaceuticals space and we are very excited to have someone of his calibre joining our scientific advisory board. Not only his experience in clinical trials and product development will be invaluable to Clarity, his central location in St Louis will allow us to explore and implement a broader manufacturing and clinical trials site to industrialise our technology in the US. We are committed to working together to advance Clarity’s pipeline in order to provide better diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for oncology patients around the world.”