MaRS Discovery District, Toronto, ON; January 8, 2021 – Proteocyte AI, a personalized medicine and diagnostics company located in MaRS Center, Toronto ON, announces today that the company has hired a new management team, led by seasoned MedTech entrepreneur Steve Arless of Montreal as Executive Chairman, and a new Clinical Advisory Board. The achievement is a pivotal event in the company’s transformation into a leader in oral cancer prognosis and prediction.
Mr. Arless has recently recruited Dr. Anthony Morlandt to serve as Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Barrie Renick to serve as Chief Medical Officer. The new management team joins John Jordan, Chief Financial Officer, with extensive experience in raising capital for MedTech startup companies.
Arless says: “I’m proud of the Proteocyte team, and what they’ve been able to accomplish in such a short period of time. While Dr. Morlandt has been part of the Proteocyte Clinical Advisory Board for several years, his new role as CEO will provide an ever stronger direction to the organization as we move to the pivotal stage of commercial development.”
The Clinical Advisory Board now includes some of the most accomplished oral cancer surgeons in the world, including Drs. Ian Witterick, Eric Dierks, Rui Fernandes, Deepak Kademani, James Melville and Simon Young, and anatomic pathologist Dr. Diana Lin. The group has referred to its Straticyte™ product as a potential game-changer in dysplasia management. Prior to Straticyte, treating oral dysplasia was poorly understood, often subjecting patients to either painful procedures or unsafe periods of observation. Straticyte is the world’s first in-vitro diagnostic test to detect and risk-stratify an oral dysplasia lesion, giving a personalized risk score to patients and their ordering physician or dentist. The test is non-invasive and requires no additional medical procedures to obtain patient tissue.
Oral cancer is the 8th most common cancer in North America, affecting 53,260 in the United States and 5,400 people in Canada annually. Traditional risk factors include tobacco and alcohol use, but younger individuals, particularly Caucasian females less than 35 years of age, are a rapidly-growing risk group. Ethnic minority groups, including black populations, currently have the highest rates of oral cancer-related death. Early detection of oral cancer or its precursor, oral dysplasia, is known to improve survival.
Under the new management team, the company is finalizing plans for a multicenter U.S. postmarketing study to complement its current Canadian observational study, providing further clinical validation for the Straticyte test. “By engaging a number of U.S. sites, with varied populations and oral cancer management patterns, we hope to confirm the strength and usefulness of Straticyte for patients suffering from oral dysplasia, living continually with the fear of developing invasive oral cancer,” says Dr. Morlandt.
About Proteocyte
Proteocyte AI is a personalized medicine and diagnostics company located in MaRS Center, Toronto, ON. Proteocyte’s products help tackle the uncertainty surrounding oral cancer care, one of the most aggressive human cancers. The company’s oral dysplasia predictive test, Straticyte, was developed from a panel of 811 protein biomarkers, leverages over 10 years of R&D, and is positioned to disrupt oral dysplasia and cancer care worldwide.