PharmaCyte Appoints Director Of Cannabis Program

PharmaCyte Biotech (OTCQB:PMCB) clinical stage biotechnology company announced a new side of the company by naming Dr. Mark L. Rabe as director of the cannabis development program.
As quoted in the press release:

In his new role, Dr. Rabe will be tasked with leading strategic planning, management and development of PharmaCyte’s Cell-in-a-Box^® cannabinoid-based therapy, which is currently in the preclinical research phase. He will also provide operational support to the Chief Executive Officer and executive management team. Dr. Rabe will continue as a member of PharmaCyte’s Medical and Scientific Advisory Board.

PharmaCyte has a license to utilize the Cell-in-a-Box^® technology with cannabinoids (constituents of Cannabis) to treat diseases and their related symptoms. PharmaCyte’s “Cannabis Therapy Program” is currently focused on bio-engineering a human cell line that is suitable for Cell-in-a-Box^® live-cell encapsulation and capable of producing an enzyme to convert a cannabinoid “prodrug” into its active cancer-killing form. This research seeks to leverage the documented anti-cancer properties of cannabinoid molecules, such as THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol).

“We are very pleased to expand Dr. Rabe’s presence at PharmaCyte,” commented PharmaCyte’s Chief Executive Officer, Kenneth L. Waggoner. “Dr. Rabe has been superlative in his role as a member of our Medical and Scientific Advisory Board, and now he will be leading our efforts to develop and/or license a marketable Cell-in-a-Box^®/cannabinoid therapy. His impressive background in operations, management and educational content development–in addition to his experience as a physician–will also be quite helpful in our planned pivotal clinical trial involving locally-advanced, non-metastatic pancreas cancer.”

Dr. Rabe has worked with PharmaCyte since 2013, when he was appointed as founding member and Chairman of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board. In this role, he was instrumental in building the Board, designing PharmaCyte’s cannabinoid-based therapy and establishing PharmaCyte’s current Cannabis research program with the University of Northern Colorado. In his new role, Dr. Rabe will assume management of the Cannabis Therapy Program, with the goal of developing a marketable product. With broad experience in business operations, Dr. Rabe will also assist the company in a variety of other areas.

Dr. Rabe’s professional background spans three decades, during which time he has worked as a highly regarded clinical physician, founded and grown several successful healthcare-related businesses, served as Chief Medical Officer of the largest network of physician-owned alternative care centers in the country and served as Medical Director of an e-Learning company that developed educational content for MDs and PhDs at major pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly, Celgene, Genentech, Amgen and others. Dr. Rabe has also delivered numerous scientific presentations and has served as a Superior Court-approved expert witness in the emerging area of cannabinoid medicine.

Dr. Rabe attended Northwestern University Medical School and he is a diplomate of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine (ABIHM). He received his undergraduate training at Benedictine University, where he earned a summa cum laude degree in biochemistry. Dr. Rabe’s integrative holistic medical practice, Centric Wellness, is in San Diego, California.

About PharmaCyte Biotech

PharmaCyte Biotech is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing therapies for cancer and diabetes based upon a proprietary cellulose-based live cell encapsulation technology known as “Cell-in-a-Box^®.” This technology will be used as a platform upon which therapies for several types of cancer and diabetes are being developed. PharmaCyte’s therapy for cancer involves encapsulating genetically engineered human cells that convert an inactive chemotherapy drug into its active or “cancer-killing” form. These encapsulated cells are implanted as close to the patient’s cancerous tumor as possible. Once implanted, a chemotherapy drug that is normally activated in the liver (ifosfamide) is given intravenously at one-third the normal dose. The ifosfamide is carried by the circulatory system to where the encapsulated cells have been implanted. When the ifosfamide flows through the encapsulated cells, they act as an artificial liver and activate the chemotherapy drug at the source of the cancer. This “targeted chemotherapy” has proven effective and safe to use in past clinical trials and results in no side effects.

In addition to developing a novel therapy for cancer, PharmaCyte is developing a treatment for Type 1 diabetes and insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetes. PharmaCyte plans to encapsulate a human cell line that has been genetically engineered to produce, store and release insulin in response to the levels of blood sugar in the human body. The encapsulation will be done using the Cell-in-a-Box® technology. Once the encapsulated cells are implanted in a diabetic patient they will function as a “bio-artificial pancreas” for purposes of insulin production.

Click here to read the full press release.