Synarc Expands Its Oncology Expertise

San Francisco, CA-May 23, 2008-Synarc Inc., the world's leading provider of medical image analysis, biochemical marker, and clinical research center services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, announced that Bruce Cheson has joined its Oncology Scientific Advisory Committee and Malik Juweid has been named medical director, PET CT.

Juweid is internationally recognized as one of the leaders in the areas of PET and PET/CT in lymphoma. He was the lead author with Cheson on a critically acclaimed article in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) detailing the vital role PET plays in the treatment of certain cancers. The article, entitled, “ Positron-Emission Tomography and Assessment of Cancer Therapy,” has received international praise and is one of the most viewed and downloaded articles in recent memory by the NEJM.

Juweid and Cheson also teamed up to author a paper for Blood in the role of PET scans for patients with lymphoma. The paper examined the role PET plays in staging, monitoring response to therapy and if PET scanning should be part of standard of care.

Dr. Juweid is an active member of several scientific groups and study sections in oncology and imaging, and served for three years as co-chair of the imaging committee and member of the lymphoma committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB). He was also recently invited to serve on the ECOG lymphoma committee. He is currently a section editor of the Oncologist after serving as member of the editorial board of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine for three years.

Additionally, Dr. Juweid recently participated as chair of the Imaging Committee of the International Harmonization Project (IHP) responsible for revising the response criteria for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (International Workshop Criteria or Cheson criteria).

Dr. Cheson currently is professor of medicine, head of hematology, and director of hematology research at Georgetown University Hospital. Dr. Cheson has authored over 300 medical publications and abstracts and has contributed to over 50 texts. He is on the editorial board of numerous journals and is associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oncology, and Oncology News international. He is an editor-in-chief of Clinical Lymphoma and Myeloma and Clinical Advances in Hematology and Oncology.  He has also been the editor of the Medical Knowledge Assessment Program in Oncology for the American College of Physicians and ASCO. He has served on several committees of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and was on its Board of Directors and edited ASCO News.  Dr. Cheson is on the Executive Committee of the Lymphoma Research Foundation and is currently president-elect of the Scientific Advisory Board. He also served on the Oncologic Drug Advisory Committee to the Food and Drug Administration and from1986–2002 was the head, medicine section of the Cancer Therapy Evaluating Program (CTEP). He currently chairs the Lymphoma Committee of the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, and is co-chair of the International Harmonization Project in Lymphoma and the AJCC Subcommittee on Lymphoma.  Dr. Cheson’s clinical interests focus on the development and evaluation of new therapeutic approaches for hematologic malignancies.

Synarc’s advisory committee is comprised of the top scientists and clinicians at the forefront of oncology research. Their expertise covers all major cancer types and includes experience in clinical-trial design, execution and analysis, in addition to regulatory approval. The members of the committee have contributed to the advancement of cancer therapies, including the International Harmonization Project (IHP) criteria for the treatment of lymphoma and the incorporation of PET-CT in endpoint assessment. They have also participated in numerous scientific and government committees, such as the FDA Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee.

Synarc currently has 45 oncology studies surrounding all the major cancer sites.