CASI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the formation of a clinical advisory board. Led by company's chief medical officer Rong Chen, MD, Ph.D, the board will leverage its extensive clinical experience and expertise to assist the company with overall product development strategies and clinical practice. The members of the clinical advisory board are: Ghassan K. Abou-Alfa, M.D.: Dr. Abou-Alfa is an associate professor of the Gastrointestinal Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and is a prominent figure in the treatment of gastrointestinal malignancies and in particular, hepatocellular carcinoma, fibrolamellar carcinoma, and biliary cancers.

His research is dedicated to finding novel therapies and improving the effectiveness of current therapies for hepatocellular carcinoma and biliary cancers, while continuing to understand the basic mechanisms of the diseases and their therapies. Dr. Abou-Alfa is dedicated to developing therapeutic strategies that help overcome resistance to sorafenib. He, along with colleagues, founded the nationwide Fibrolamellar Consortium that has helped numerous fibrolamellar carcinoma patients.

S. Gail Eckhardt, M.D.: Dr. Eckhardt is a tenured Professor in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Colorado, School of Medicine where she also holds the Stapp/Harlow Endowed Chair for Cancer Research. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Scripps Research Foundation, she completed her training in Medical Oncology at the University of California San Diego. Dr. Eckhardt has served on numerous committees/study sections, including the ASCO Molecular Oncology Task Force, the ASCO Board of Directors, the FDA Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee, and the NCI Cancer Centers Study Section.

She is a member of the NCI Investigational Drug Steering Committee and the NCI Colorectal Cancer Task Force and serves on several External Advisory Boards of NCI designated Cancer Centers. Dr. Eckhardt is the Principal Investigator on grants involving early clinical trials and colorectal cancer research, has conducted numerous Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials and has published over 170 manuscripts. She is an internationally recognized expert on drug development.

Robert J. Mayer, M.D.: Dr. Mayer is Faculty Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Stephen B. Kay Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School where he is also the Faculty Associate Dean for Admissions. He directed the Institute's Medical Oncology Fellowship Program for 36 years, overseeing the training of several hundred oncologists. Dr. Mayer's research interests focus on gastrointestinal cancer, a subject about which he has published extensively.

Dr. Mayer established the Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is the past Chair of the Gastrointestinal Cancer Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, a cooperative group sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Mayer's extensive experience and knowledge of clinical development and network of clinicians will provide company with important insight and access. Rong Chen, M.D., Ph.D.: Dr. Chen is CASI's chief medical officer.

Dr. Chen has extensive experience in drug development, both in China and globally, which will be invaluable to his work at company.