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Oncolytics Biotech Inc (2)
Symbol ONC
Shares Issued 16,915,325
Close 2018-11-28 C$ 3.44
Market Cap C$ 58,188,718
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Oncolytics appoints Laeufle chief medical officer

2018-11-29 08:25 ET - News Release

Dr. Matt Coffey reports

ONCOLYTICS BIOTECH ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF RITA LAEUFLE, M.D., AS CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. has appointed Dr. Rita Laeufle, MD, PhD, who has been working as a consultant for Oncolytics for the last four months, as chief medical officer. Dr. Laeufle will oversee the clinical development plan for pelareorep as the company drives toward a registration study in breast cancer.

"Dr. Laeufle brings a tremendous track record in clinical advancement to Oncolytics, including an approval in the treatment of metastatic breast cancer," said Dr. Matt Coffey, president and chief executive officer of Oncolytics Biotech. "Her experience in establishing the processes, teams and external support needed to gain approval will be invaluable as we prepare for our phase three registration study in metastatic breast cancer. With Dr. Laeufle's additional background in gastrointestinal cancer and under her guidance, our objective is to establish a second registration pathway in this area, such as colorectal cancer, anal cancer or pancreatic cancer."

Dr. Laeufle brings more than 15 years of experience in drug development in oncology, most recently serving as vice-president of clinical development and medical affairs at SFJ Pharmaceuticals, where she developed a clinical program for a new drug substance class in colon cancer. Previously, Dr. Laeufle was senior vice-president, clinical development of oncology, at Coherus Biosciences where she developed a biosimilar strategy for Avastin, prior to which she was senior medical director, global medical affairs, at Clovis Oncology, where she led the medical affairs strategy for its PARP inhibitor, Rucaparib. Dr. Laeufle also served as senior medical director, U.S. medical affairs, gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, at Genentech where she led GI disease across molecules and indications, and as senior PD medical director and clinical science leader in oncology at Roche, working with Avastin for the treatment of breast cancer where she successfully maintained approval for Avastin in first line metastatic breast cancer in combination with paclitaxel in Europe and ROW (rest of world). She was senior medical scientific expert of immunology and infectious diseases and senior pharmacovigilance leader, oncology, at Novartis and began her pharmaceutical career as PD medical director and medical monitor (international study manager), Altana Pharma.

"Having had the chance to work with the Oncolytics team since July and evaluate the oncolytic virus space from an internal perspective, I couldn't be more excited to join Oncolytics and look forward to being a part of the exciting and rapidly advancing oncolytic virus therapeutic arena," said Dr. Laeufle. "Pelareorep's potential includes a very favourable safety profile and statistically significant efficacy data in metastatic breast cancer, as well as supporting data that it is a synergistic treatment option in other cancers, particularly in gastrointestinal cancer in combination with immunotherapy. I strongly believe that pelareorep has the potential to change the treatment landscape of a wide number of indications based on its synergy with a number of immunotherapy agents and targeted treatments in oncology."

Dr. Laeufle completed her general surgery residency at Buckland Hospital in Dover, England, Basel, Switzerland, and Ueberlingen, Germany, and was trained as a surgical oncologist at Staedtisches Krankenhaus, Singen, Germany, where she focused on gastroenterological, thyroid and breast cancer. Dr. Laeufle completed medical school at Medical School Albert Ludwig University Freiburg i.Br., Germany, where she received her PhD in exploring Her2 oncogenes in brain cancer. Dr. Laeufle's work has been published in The Lancet Oncology, the European Journal of Cancer, the Journal of Hepatology and Human Pathology, and she has had multiple posters presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer (WCGC) and the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO).

About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a biotechnology company developing pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus. The compound induces selective tumour lysis and promotes an inflamed tumour phenotype -- turning cold tumours hot -- through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers.

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