Texas Scientist to Lead Melanoma Study Backed by $18 Million from California

NeoStem, Inc., yes­­­terday announced that University of Texas researcher Merrick Ross will lead the skin cancer clinical trial that California has backed with nearly$18 million.

Ross is a professor of surgery and chief of the Melanoma Section, Department of Surgical Oncology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Ross also has a California tie. He held a research fellowship in 1984 at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, but virtually all of his career has been in Texas.

NeoStem says the stage three clinical trial will have seven sites in California. It is currently recruiting patients for the 4-year effort for a treatment for metastatic melanoma. It is calling the program the “Intus Study.” 

The firm says patients must be 18 or over have “recurrent metastatic melanoma (Stage III) or distant metastases (Stage IV).” Other requirements must be met. Initial outcomes are scheduled to be reported in January 2017.

Interested persons can find more information here and here.