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OMEICOS Announces Formation of Inaugural Clinical Advisory BoardOMEICOS Therapeutics, a Berlin-based biopharmaceutical company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and ophthalmic diseases, today announced the appointment of leading experts in the field of cardiac arrhythmias to the company's Clinical Advisory Board (CAB). The multinational group of specialists will serve as a strategic resource to OMEICOS as it continues to advance its lead compound, OMT-28, currently in a Phase I clinical trial. The CAB will provide counsel to the company as OMEICOS starts to design a Phase II program for maintenance of sinus rhythm in patients with atrial fibrillation. The inaugural CAB meeting was held adjacent to the American Hearts Associations' Scientific Sessions 2017 in Anaheim, CA (News - Alert). The initial members of OMEICOS' Clinical Advisory Board include: Leonardo Caló, MD, Chief of the Department of Cardiology at Policlinic Casillino, Rome and Professor of Medicine at University Cattolica, Rome (Italy) John Camm, MD, FRCP, Professor of Clinical Cardiology at St. George's Hospital, University of London and at Imperial College, London (United Kingdom) Dobromir Dobrev, MD, Professor and Director of Institute of Institute of Pharmacology, University of Duisberg-Essen (Germany) Andreas Goette, MD, FEHRA, Professor and Head of Department of Cardiology and Intensive Care Medicine at St. Vincenz Hospital, Paderborn (Germany) Gerald Naccarelli, MD, FACC, FAHA, FHRS, Bernard Trabin Chair in Cardiology, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Cardiology at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine/Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania (USA) "We are extremely pleased to have attracted a group of world-renowned leaders to one of our key focus areas, atrial fibrillation" said Robert Fischer, MD, CEO of OMEICOS. "The addition of these seasoned experts to OMEICOS' Clinical Advisory Board is a testament to the potential of our program and we look forward to their invaluable scientific and clinical development expertise as we shape our strategy to develop an effective therapeutic to achieve long term rhythm control in patients with AF." Dr. Leonardo Caló is focused on studying cardiac arrhythmias, electrophysiology and ablation and is an expert in the functional role played by omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention of arrhythmias in different settings. He is a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and has participated in several international clinical trials. He is associated Editor of Journal of Cardiovascular Interventional Eectrophysiology and European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, has authored or co-authored numerous papers and more than 20 book chapters. Prof. Caló has participated in several international clinical trials. Dr. John Camm is focused on cardiac arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, stroke prevention, clinical cardiac electrophysiology, heart failure and cardiomyopathy patients. He is President of the European Heart Rhythm Association and Founder of the Atrial Fibrillation Association and in addition, a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (London, Edinburgh and Glasgow), the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC (News - Alert)). Prof. Camm has written or edited more than 40 books and has authored or co-authored almost 1300 peer reviewed papers and over 500 book chapters in the field of cardiology and has been involved in the production of numerous guidelines, including the ESC guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. In 2010 and 2012, he was the recipient of the ESC Gold Medal and the British Cardiovascular Society's Mackenzie Medal. Dr. Dobromir Dobrev is an internationally recognized expert in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying development, progression and maintenance of cardiac arrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation. He has authored over 200 peer reviewed articles and is on the editorial board of numerous cardiovascular journals. He is currently Chairman of ESC Working Group on Cardiac Cellular Electrophysiology and co-authored the 2016 ESC guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. Dr. Andreas Goette is a specialist in interventional cardiology as well as clinical and experimental electrophysiology. The main focus of his research is on molecular mechanisms and molecular biology of atrial fibrillation. Since 2015 he is one of the Chairman of the German Atrial Fibrillation NETwork (AFNET). He was the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee of the European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA), co-authored various international guidelines in atrial fibrillation treatment and published more than 150 peer reviewed papers. Dr. Gerald Naccarelli is a cardiologist and arrhythmia expert who has been in clinical practice for 36 years. He is past-president of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and served on the Board of Trustees of the American College of Cardiology and HRS. He is a recipient of the American Heart Association's Paul Dudley White Award. Prof. Naccarelli has published over 600 peer reviewed papers, book chapters and reviews in addition to authoring four books related to cardiac arrhythmia. He is currently on the steering committee of multiple clinical trials and has vast experience in the development and approval of multiple anti-arrhythmic agents in the USA. About Atrial Fibrillation Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in humans. More than 30 million patients are affected worldwide and this number is increasing by 2% per year due to the aging population. AF is characterized by an irregular heart rhythm originating from the heart's upper chambers, resulting in inefficient blood pumping. AF leads to a significant reduction in quality of life, increases the risk of stroke, raises the risk of heart failure and doubles the risk of death. Marketed anti-arrhythmic drugs have limited efficacy and often severe adverse effects, which together with the huge number of affected patients accounts for a high unmet medical need for a safe and efficacious medical treatment of AF. About OMEICOS OMEICOS Therapeutics is a spin-off company from the Max Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin. The company has discovered a series of metabolically robust synthetic analogues of omega-3 fatty acid-derived epoxyeicosanoids that have the potential to treat inflammatory, cardiovascular and other diseases. Epoxyeicosanoids, as a newly described class of bioactive lipid mediators, activate cell type-specific endogenous pathways that promote organ and tissue protection. OMEICOS' small molecules are orally available and show improved biological activity and pharmacokinetic properties compared to their natural counterparts. OMEICOS' technology is based on ground-breaking scientific results in the field of omega-3 fatty acid metabolism and physiology obtained by the companies' founders, Dr. Wolf-Hagen Schunck, Prof. John. R. Falck, Prof. Dominik Mueller and Dr. Robert Fischer. The companies' research activities are supported by a grant from the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). www.omeicos.com
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