- Rare disease charity PTEN Research Foundation welcomes two new
senior leaders from the pharmaceutical industry, Professor Sir Mene
Pangalos and Dr Donald Ogilvie to the Foundation’s Scientific
Advisory Board (SAB).
- By strengthening its scientific oversight, the Foundation hopes
to further progress and accelerate its mission to fund and
facilitate research that will lead to better treatments and
improved outcomes for people with PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome
(PHTS).
PTEN Research Foundation, a charity which funds and facilitates
research with the aim of developing new and better treatments for
the rare disease PTEN Hamartoma Tumour Syndrome (PHTS), today
announced that it has further strengthened its scientific oversight
of activities with two new senior leaders, Dr Donald Ogilvie and
Prof Sir Mene Pangalos, joining the Foundation’s Scientific
Advisory Board (SAB).
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Prof Sir Menelas (Mene) Pangalos DSc PhD
FRSB FMedSci HonFBPhS FRS (Photo: Business Wire)
“We are honoured that two such senior leaders with a wealth of
drug development experience have agreed to join the Foundation’s
Scientific Advisory Board,” said Thomas Pepper, Chief Executive of
PTEN Research Foundation. “The SAB has a critical role in steering
the Foundation’s scientific strategy and we continue to be
privileged that senior leaders from pharma and biotech, as well as
academic physicians and scientists with a deep knowledge of PHTS,
have been willing to join the Board and guide the Foundation’s
mission.”
PHTS is a condition caused by an alteration in the PTEN gene.
Such an alteration, which may be inherited from the mother or
father, or occur spontaneously during embryonic development, can
affect multiple organs and result in a variety of symptoms. These
include macrocephaly (enlarged head circumference), learning
difficulties, autism spectrum disorder, vascular anomalies
(abnormal growth of the blood vessels), gastrointestinal polyps
(growths in the gut), and hamartomas (benign lesions of the skin
and other tissues). In addition, people with PHTS have a
significantly increased risk of developing cancer of the breast,
thyroid and endometrium (lining of the womb).
Notes for Editors
About Dr Donald Ogilvie MA DPhil
Donald is an independent scientific consultant providing expert
advice on cancer drug discovery to academic, industrial, and
venture capital organisations.
Donald obtained an MA in Biochemistry at the University of
Oxford, UK, in 1980, before working at the John Radcliffe Hospital,
Oxford, for eight years on the role of proteases in cancer, then on
inherited connective tissue disorders. The latter was the basis of
his DPhil degree. In 1988, Donald joined ICI which subsequently
became Zeneca then AstraZeneca. For most of his twenty-year career
in the pharmaceutical industry, he worked on cancer drug discovery
and early clinical development projects. He was directly
responsible for the delivery of ten novel cancer development
compounds, several of which have progressed to phase II & III
clinical trials and two, so far, to regulatory approval. Between
2009 and 2017, Donald set up and led the academic Drug Discovery
Unit at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute (University of
Manchester, UK). Under his leadership, the team built a drug
discovery infrastructure and a leading cancer project portfolio.
During this period, three projects, including one with a
development compound, were successfully licensed to downstream
partners. Donald is a co-author on more than ninety peer-reviewed
academic publications.
About Prof Sir Menelas (Mene) Pangalos DSc PhD FRSB FMedSci
HonFBPhS FRS
Until Spring 2024 Mene held the role of Executive Vice
President, Research and Development at AstraZeneca being
responsible for R&D from discovery through to late-stage
development covering Cardiovascular, Renal, Metabolism,
Respiratory, Immunology, Microbial Science and Neuroscience areas.
Prior to this, he served as Executive Vice-President of
AstraZeneca’s Innovative Medicines & Early Development Biotech
Unit and Global Business Development.
During his time with AstraZeneca, Mene led the transformation of
R&D productivity through the development and implementation of
the “5R” framework resulting in a greater than four-fold increase
in success rates compared to industry averages. In parallel, he has
championed an open approach to working with academic and other
external partners, changing the nature of academic-industry
collaboration.
In addition, Mene led and oversaw AstraZeneca’s R&D response
to COVID-19; maintaining existing clinical trials and delivery of
medicines to patients, responding to the UK government’s call for
supporting its national testing effort, and discovering and
developing new preventative and treatment approaches to the
disease. This work involved partnering with Oxford University in
the global development of a vaccine and ensuring broad and
equitable access at no profit during the pandemic, the discovery
and development of a long-acting antibody combination for those who
could not be vaccinated, as well as exploring AstraZeneca’s
existing portfolio as potential treatment options against the
disease. The team were awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal
Society in 2023.
Mene previously held senior R&D roles at Wyeth and GSK.
Mene holds Honorary Doctorates from Glasgow University and
Imperial College, London, is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical
Sciences, the Royal Society of Biology and Clare Hall, University
of Cambridge and is a Visiting Professor at The Wolfson Centre at
King’s College. He co-chairs the UK Life Sciences Council Expert
Group on Innovation, Clinical Research and Data and is a member of
the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Implementation Board. He is
also on the Boards of The Francis Crick Institute and The Judge
Business School, Cambridge University, and is a member of the Life
Sciences Vision Advisory Group. Mene was awarded the 2019 Prix
Galien Medal, Greece for his scientific research and named
Executive of the Year at the 2019 Scrip Awards. In 2019, Mene was
awarded the honour of a Knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II for his
services to UK science. In 2021 Mene was awarded an Honorary
Fellowship of the British Pharmacological Society. In 2022 Mene was
elected as a Fellow of The Royal Society and an honorary professor
of Cambridge University Medical School.
About PHTS
PHTS is a rare genetic disorder caused by alteration in the PTEN
(phosphatase and tensin homolog) gene that results in a variety of
symptoms in multiple organs. These alterations, which may be
inherited from the mother or father or occur spontaneously during
embryonic development, can result in a variety of symptoms. These
include macrocephaly (enlarged head circumference), learning
difficulties, autism spectrum disorder, vascular anomalies
(abnormal growth of the blood vessels), gastrointestinal polyps
(growths in the gut), and hamartomas (benign lesions of the skin
and other tissues). In addition, people with PHTS have an increased
lifetime risk of developing cancer, particularly breast, thyroid,
and endometrial (lining of the womb) cancer.
Estimating the prevalence of PHTS is complex due to the varied
presentations and diagnoses patients can have and because some
features (e.g. benign breast lesions) also commonly occur in the
general population. The prevalence of PHTS is estimated to be about
1 in 200,000, although this is likely to be an underestimate.
There are currently no health authority-approved treatments
specific to PHTS, and clinical management consists mainly of cancer
surveillance and supportive care. The need for cancer surveillance
and lifelong supportive care places a high burden on affected
individuals, their families and on healthcare systems.
About PTEN Research Foundation
PTEN Research Foundation was established as a charity under
English law in 2017 (charity number 1173589). The Foundation’s
mission is to fund and facilitate research that will lead to new
and better treatments for individuals with PHTS. PTEN Research
Foundation aims to have transformative therapies available as
treatment options for people with PHTS within 10 years.
The Foundation’s strategy is centred on the generation of
preclinical and clinical evidence that will enable the Foundation,
and others (both academic collaborators and industry), to develop
treatment options for people with PHTS.
www.PTENresearch.org
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Enquiries/Media: Thomas Pepper Chief Executive PTEN Research
Foundation E: contact@PTENresearch.org www.PTENresearch.org