Oncternal Therapeutics Adds Matthew Smith, M.D., Ph.D. to its Prostate Cancer Scientific Advisory Board

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 25, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncternal Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCT), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel oncology therapies, today announced the addition of Matthew Smith, M.D., Ph.D. to its Prostate Cancer Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). Dr. Smith, along with the other Prostate Cancer SAB members, will help guide Oncternal’s next steps in the clinical development of its novel dual-acting androgen receptor inhibitor (DAARI), ONCT-534, which is currently under investigation in an ongoing Phase 1/2 clinical study, ONCT-534-101.

“We wholeheartedly welcome Dr. Smith to Oncternal’s Prostate Cancer Scientific Advisory Board,” said James Breitmeyer, M.D., Ph.D., Oncternal’s President and CEO. “We believe Dr. Smith’s expertise and his experience leading global registrational studies for novel prostate cancer therapeutics will be instrumental in helping us shape the clinical and registrational strategy for ONCT-534.”

“There is a significant unmet need for patients with metastatic prostate cancer and disease progression despite treatment with currently available AR pathway inhibitors, such as abiraterone acetate and enzalutamide,” said Matthew Smith, M.D., Ph.D. “I look forward to working with the Oncternal team to help bring their dual-acting AR inhibitor to patients. Preclinical studies suggest that ONCT-534 may address the most common escape mechanisms of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, including activating mutations in the AR ligand-binding domain and constitutively active splice variants such as AR-V7.”

Dr. Matthew R. Smith is Director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an internationally recognized expert in prostate cancer. He has published extensively on the treatment and prevention of bone metastases, prostate cancer survivorship, and novel androgen receptor pathway inhibitors. He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles including manuscripts in New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research. He graduated summa cum laude from Canisius College with a B.A. in biochemistry. He received his MD and PhD degrees from Duke University School of Medicine. He trained in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital. He completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology at Dana Farber Cancer Institute and a postdoctoral fellowship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.