HELSINKI, Finland, July 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Oncos Therapeutics, the biotech company executing a clinical development program on its next generation oncolytic viruses, today announced the appointment of its Clinical Advisory Board (CAB). Bringing together a group of recognized leading experts in Oncology and Oncolytic Virus drug development, combining a wealth of clinical, strategic, and scientific experience in cancer drug development, immunotherapy, and oncolytic viruses, the CAB is well suited to support the company's innovative development strategy.

"Oncolytic viruses have the potential to become an important next-generation modality of cancer therapeutics" says Kapil Dhingra, consultant to the company and member of the Clinical Advisory Board.

"I am very pleased to be able to work together with this distinguished group of experts. They are already making a significant and very valuable contribution to our strategy as well as brainstorming novel approaches, and being very pragmatic and feasibility-oriented", says Dr. Mikael von Euler, CMO and Head of Research at Oncos who was recently appointed as Chairman of the Clinical Advisory Board.

Dr. von Euler is pleased to include the following leading oncology experts into the CAB: Dr. Kapil Dhingra, former Head of Roche Global Oncology Clinical Development; Dr. Lee Helman, Head of Molecular Oncology Section at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Co-founder of the Sarcoma Alliance for Research Through Collaboration (SARC)  in the USA; Dr. Kevin Harrington of the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, one of the most experienced European investigators in oncolytic virus trials; Dr. Eva Galanis of Mayo Clinic, a leading scientist in oncolytic viruses in the USA; Dr. Luca Gianni, Director of Medical Oncology at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan and the 2011 ASCO recipient of the Gianni Bonadonna Breast Cancer Award for his achievements in advancing the field of breast cancer research and Dr. Elke Jäger of the Nordwest Krankenhaus in Frankfurt, a distinguished cancer immunotherapy opinion leader in Europe.

"Our CAB has already made a significant contribution to our clinical development strategy", comments Pekka Simula, CEO and Co-Founder of Oncos Therapeutics. "It's a thrilling experience for the entire Oncosteam to be executing the strategic ideas of such talented oncology experts."

About Oncos Therapeutics

Oncos Therapeutics, based in Helsinki, Finland, develops novel cancer therapies based on its next generation oncolytic viruses. Its ongoing clinical development program of the lead virus CGTG-102 is based on clinical experience from an experimental treatment program with ten different oncolytic viruses, and is planned to expand into several countries in the near future. For more information about Oncos visit http://www.oncos.com.

SOURCE Oncos Therapeutics