Sidney Pestka, M.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
PBL Therapeutics
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2006 High-Tech Business Leaders Category
Sidney Pestka, M.D., is the Founder and Chief Scientific Officer for PBL Therapeutics. PBL Therapeutics was formed in 2000 to bring to market an effective, interferon-based cancer drug. The Company's technologies are based on the ideas of Sidney Pestka, M.D., an internationally recognized scientist with over three decades of pioneering work in the research and development of proteins and protein biopharmaceuticals, specifically in the area of interferons. He has a proven track record of successful research, from initial concept development to commercialization. Dr. Pestka developed innovations that led to breakthrough purification and cloning technologies that enabled interferons to become commercially viable therapeutics for the treatment of many diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and hepatitis B and C. Today, the entire biotechnology industry uses the pioneering technologies that he developed.
Dr. Pestka's 30 years of research have yielded stunning results. His early work on interferon gave birth to what is today a $6 billion dollar market. He was the first to purify interferon, the first to clone mature interferons and the first to develop a commercialized recombinant biotherapeutic-Roferon A-while at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology of Hoffmann-LaRoche, where he spent 17 years leading research efforts. Dr. Pestka also serves as a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. He is presently the named inventor on 270 U.S. and foreign patents and has 410 original research articles in his name. Dr. Pestka is 2001 National Medal of Technology laureate.
PBL Therapeutics currently operates as one of two business units within Pestka Biomedical Laboratories, Inc., and Dr. Pestka continues to contribute his scientific expertise to both businesses: Interferon Source is focused on the commercial sale of interferon-related reagents for research use; and PBL Therapeutics is focused on cancer drug discovery & development.
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