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When A-listers popularized the Keto diet as an effective method for dropping unwanted pounds, they did not realize that this diet could become part of a cancer-fighting treatment strategy. The ketogenic diet is a high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet with adequate amounts of protein. Recent research suggest ketogenesis creates an unfavorable metabolic environment for cancer cells. Knowledge Pharmaceuticals is developing a drug that can mimicking the keto effect and serve as an “adjuvant” to chemotherapy treatment. This could dramatically improve survival and quality of life for patients with glioblastoma, which has been deemed one of the hardest to treat and deadliest of all cancers.
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Glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive brain cancer. There is no cure. Multiple treatments are used (surgery, radiation therapy, drugs) to extend patient lifespan and quality of life. Without treatment, lifespan is typically 3 months. With treatment, the life span is extended to over a year, but 95% of patients do not survive this cancer beyond 5 years.
Knowledge Pharmaceuticals is developing a drug that could radically improve how we treat glioblastoma. Our drug is capable of inducing the metabolic effects of a keto diet, without the patient having to go on the diet. Researchers believe the keto diet creates a metabolic environment that is unfavorable to cancer cells. Hence a pill that can mimic this diet serves as a potent adjuvant to chemotherapy, especially for those cancers where treatment alternatives and survival outcomes are low, like glioblastoma.
The ketogenic diet has been used for a century to treat seizures. It has recently been shown to improve the response of glioblastomas to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Our milestone is to test whether the active ingredient we have discovered in the diet (which we have shown has an anti seizure effect) or related compounds improves the response of glioblastomas to chemotherapy.
Funds will be used to 1) synthesize compounds with a longer lifespan than the active ingredient in the ketogenic diet, and 2) test the best of these compounds in an animal model of glioblastoma to see if it reduces tumor growth.
The chair of pharmaceutical chemistry at the Keck Pharmacy School in Claremont, CA will synthesize the drugs for us. We intend to acquire a mouse model through Fox Chase to test the best drug for its tumor suppressing effect in combination with current chemotherapy.
Patients with glioblastoma would need to be on the ketogenic diet if they want to benefit from it in their own treatment. However, the ketogenic diet is difficult to follow and those who swear by it, such as celebrities, often have private chefs and other resources to sustain a daily menu of high protein and fat, and low carb dishes. For the average person, let alone those battling cancer, following the keto diet is difficult (if not impossible) and therefore few cancer patients can actually benefit from it.
If the drug being developed by Knowledge Pharmaceuticals fails due to lack of funding, patients would have very little ability to incorporate ketogenesis as part of their cancer treatments. This would be yet another tragic defeat in our war on cancer.
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Founder & Chief Executive Officer
David is an Entrepreneur, CEO and Consultant with more than 30 years of experience in executive management, leadership and finance. He is experienced in all aspects of business formation from conception to go-to market. David is an effective communicator with the ability to leverage opportunities to achieve funding and organizational goals. David has worked with Fortune 100 companies in the arenas of Marketing, Logistics and Finance.
Chief Operating Officer
Army Major General Kenneth S. Dowd retired after 35 years of Service. His last position was as the Director of Logistics Operations for the Defense Logistics Agency, similar to the role of a chief operating officer. In this position, he oversaw a $44B budget, directed a 26,000 person work force, and oversaw global logistics support for all military forces. Kenneth supports Knowledge Pharmaceuticals with its day-to-day activities and its collaborative work with the Department of Defense.
Founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Jim Sonner is the Founder of Knowledge Pharmaceuticals and the inventor of its lead investigational drug for inducing ketogenesis. Jim has extensive experience developing antiepileptic drugs to treat seizures that are not responsive to today’s medications, i.e. medically refractory seizures. In the course of these studies, he became interested in the ketogenic diet and its use as an adjuvant for cancer. Jim received his MD from Harvard Medical School and has studied at a number of other institutions, including Harvey Mudd College in LA County, Harvard’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Oxford University, Stanford University, and the University of California at San Francisco, where he is still a professor.
Legal Counsel
David is a retired attorney. He graduated from Harvey Mudd College with a BS in math in 1980 and from Claremont Graduate University with an MA in math in 1981. Before ultimately becoming an attorney, he worked at General Dynamics in an engineering group and then at TRW in systems engineering and program management groups. Following graduation from Southwestern Law School with a JD in 1988, he joined McKenna & Cuneo where he eventually became a partner. While there, he represented large corporations in complex aerospace contract disputes. David supports Knowledge Pharmaceuticals with all corporate legal activities.
Chief Financial Officer
Vikas, is experienced in leading business from early startup to successful exit as newly public company. His background is largely in cleantech/deeptech commercialization, business operations, institutional investing and management consulting. He has led all core business functions including sales, business development, marketing, and finance. His expertise includes strategy development and driving execution to reach corporate goals. Vikas holds an MBA from Harvard and undergraduate engineering degree.
Chief of Staff
Chris has 23 years in the biotech industry as an Executive Recruiter and a startup consultant advising executive teams on funding and making introductions to designing their strategy for a new collaborative partner. I help these executives be more strategic and proactive in hiring. I build ecosystems and create alliances. Her role at Knowledge Pharmaceutical is to support key start-up activities including, fundraising and strategic alliances.
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Music Beats Cancer is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID #45-4642925
Music Beats Cancer is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Tax ID #45-4642925
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