Here is a copy of it
SHALOM Z. HIRSCHMAN - ADVANCED VIRAL RESEARCH - (ADVR)
CEO Interview - published 08/14/00
DOCUMENT # KAP634
SHALOM Z. HIRSCHMAN, MD is President and CEO of Advanced Viral Research
Corporation. After a 28-year affiliation with The Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and The
Mt. Sinai Hospital, Dr. Hirschman joined Advanced Viral Research Corp. (ADVR) as
President and CEO at the end of 1996. Dr. Hirschman accepted the position because
of his firm belief in the potential of ADVR’s experimental drug, Product R, to treat
life-threatening diseases and improve patients’ quality of life. Dr. Hirschman is
dedicated to fostering scientific inquiry and creativity at ADVR. He believes good
science is the foundation for company growth. Earlier this year, Dr. Hirschman
established the Advanced Viral Research Institute, a wholly owned subsidiary, to enable
senior scientists to pursue basic biomedical research in an academically oriented
environment. Current research focuses on peptide nucleic acid therapies, including
Product R. During his tenure at Mt. Sinai, Dr. Hirschman held several academic posts,
including Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Medicine and
Vice Chairman of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Hirschman also had a long career in
both very basic molecular and clinical research. His favorite pursuit, however, was
treating patients. Dr. Hirschman has been published in many peer-reviewed journals,
including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature and Science. He founded one
of New York City’s first and most active AIDS treatment centers at Mt. Sinai. Dr.
Hirschman is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was both an
intern and a resident at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
He then spent seven years doing basic molecular research at the National Institutes of
Health in Bethesda, Md. Dr. Hirschman is a fellow of the American Society of Infectious
Diseases, a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American
Association of Physicians, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, the Royal
College of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the American Biophysical Society, the
American Society of Microbiology, and the Society of General Virology, among others.
Sector: Biotechnology
TWST: Could we begin with a background summary and profile on Advanced Viral
Research Corp.?
Dr. Hirschman: Advanced Viral Research Corp. is a biopharmaceutical company that is
developing a new type of a non-toxic immunomodulator drug for the treatment of both
viral diseases, such as AIDS, and autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Our lead drug, Product R, is a peptide nucleic acid type drug. It represents a new
chemistry, a new pharmacology and offers new vistas for the therapy of many different
diseases. The company, in essence, is a new company. I joined this company at the end
of 1996, after close to 40 years in academic medicine. For the last 28 years before I
joined the company, I was the Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the Mt.
Sinai School of Medicine and the Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. I was also Vice
Chairman of the Department of Medicine for many years and a Professor of Medicine at
the medical school. This company has new management and a new science. In fact, we
have created the Advanced Viral Research Institute, where we have brought some of the
best, creative basic scientists together to build into the mechanisms of disease and
discover how these specific diseases might be approached with new types of therapy.
Our objective is to bring our Product R to market as quickly as possible because there
is a great need for this new type of therapy. We already have a long pipeline, but at the
beginning we are targeting several major diseases. Where we are in fact most
advanced is in having both the basic scientific data and clinical data. Those are, first,
infection with the human immunodeficiency virus, that is, the treatment of AIDS, where it
is my objective to make this immunomodulator one of the anchor drugs for the treatment
of all patients with AIDS. There are tremendous advantages to using this type of
immunomodulator in combination with the drug that directly affects viral replication,
which are the standard cocktail drugs used now. Also, it is my objective to bring this
drug to market as quickly as possible for the treatment of some of the opportunistic
infections in patients with AIDS, for which no other therapy exists. For example,
disseminated human papilloma virus infection, that is, disseminated genital warts, for
which no other therapy exists. I also intend to move this drug as quickly as possible to
market for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, where our preliminary results have been
most encouraging.
TWST: What is the time frame applied to those various projects? Specifically, what’s on
the agenda for the next 12 months?
Dr. Hirschman: Many investigational new drug applications to the FDA. We
believe, first of all, that the United States is the key to the world. Therefore, we are
putting our emphasis on getting the drug approved in this country for its various uses.
We’re already at work on this chemistry, and we have designed different conjurners of
this drug, meaning new generations of drugs based on this chemistry. It’s a very rich
chemistry, and it’s a very exciting chemistry. Given the great need for this type of drug, I
hope that we will be able to reach the marketplace by sometime in the year 2001.
TWST: As you make an assessment today, are there areas where there might still be
changes or additions to the new management team?
Dr. Hirschman: There will be additions, certainly; we are growing. We will put these
people in place, and we are in fact looking to fill more management slots.
TWST: At this point, how could the investment community better understand Advanced
Viral Research? What misperceptions do you encounter?
Dr. Hirschman: First of all, the company has to be separated totally from its past
because I can’t emphasize that when we walked in, we started to build from scratch.
And again, I can’t emphasize enough that we really have a new drug, we have a new
science, we have a new pharmacology, we have a new management team, and I think
that is important for the investment community to realize. And also, we are basing our
future on what should be the foundation of every good biopharmaceutical firm, and that
is really the most creative science and the environment to nurture that science.
TWST: What is the summary statement that convinces or compels an investor to buy in?
Dr. Hirschman: I would tell investors now that since I have come on board, we have in
fact laid the foundation for the future of this company. We have solved many important
scientific problems relating to both the chemistry, pharmacology, molecular biology of
our drug, and now, we are ready to bring this drug to market by going through the FDA
and putting in the best types of applications to the FDA based on really good science of
both basic science and clinical science. This is the way we’re going to bring this drug to
the market.
TWST: What limitations does this company have with respect to cash or capital as it
looks at these opportunities?
Dr. Hirschman: Well, we’ve been fortunate in that when we’ve needed capital, we’ve
always been able to raise it. As we look out over the horizon, over the next 12 months, I
think that we will have enough capital to carry our objectives for that period of time. I
expect that once the IND applications to the FDA are in place and we are entering
Phase II for some of the trials, we will have no trouble being funded when it is realized
what the potentials are.
TWST: Thank you.
SHALOM Z. HIRSCHMAN, MD
President & CEO
Advanced Viral Research Corp.
200 Corporate Boulevard South
Yonkers, NY 10701
(914) 376-7383
(914) 376-7368 - FAX
www.adviral.com
e-mail: AGallantar@adviral.com |
