Megan Euker, photo by Ian Fisher

Installation Shot, "The Cure" Exhibition by Megan Euker at The International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago, Photo by James Prinz

The awards alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, July 15, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Megan Euker, acclaimed Project Manager, receives Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Sicily for Work with SRTs’ Gene Therapy Development for Sickle Cell Disease and Beta Thalassemia. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 39 who have served as a head of state or government.

San Rocco Therapeutics, founded in 1993, has collaborated with Megan Euker since 2016. Euker is additionally affiliated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of South Florida. She will conduct research and teach at MADE in Siracusa, Sicily as part of her project, “Sangue Tira (Blood Pulls).” Euker will be assisting SRT as they push forward with their gene therapy, adding an insulator for increased patient safety.

While there have been no adverse effects in nine years of follow-up on patients treated with the SRT gene therapy, the company is collaborating with institutions and researchers including Dr. Chris Ballas of Innovative Cellular Therapeutics; Southern Illinois University’s Dr. Andrew Wilber; and the University of Tennessee’s Dr. Frank Park, to improve the safety and efficacy of its vector. In February 2022, Dr. Michel Sadelain, the inventor of SRT's therapy, published the importance of an insulator to decrease the likelihood of disrupting neighboring genes.

SRT plans to charge $700,000 per patient, one-third of the cost of Bluebird Bio’s projected price. With Bluebird Bio’s gene therapy for Sickle Cell Disease and Thalassemia likely approval pending, SRT believes its vector to be a wiser and safer option for patients.

In the interest of patients, San Rocco has filed suits against Bluebird Bio, Third Rock Ventures, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In the Delaware litigation, SRT filed patent infringement actions against Bluebird Bio and Third Rock Ventures. In the Southern District of New York (SDNY) litigation, initially, SRT filed a declaratory judgment action in the SDNY. Subsequently, SRT added claims for unfair competition and fraudulent inducement against MSK.

The story of San Rocco Therapeutics and its challenges against Big Pharma was just released in Patrick Girondi’s (SRT’s founder) book Flight of the Rondone: High School Dropout VS Big Pharma: The Fight to Save My Son’s Life.

Girondi’s book was featured as a #1 Wall Street Journal Bestseller the first week of July 2022 in addition to reaching #1 on three Amazon bestseller lists; #1 on Barnes and Noble; and top 100 on USA Today. He gives insight into the diagnosis of his first son’s Thalassemia, navigating the health system in the USA and Europe, and devoting the past thirty years to curing the world’s two most common hereditary hematologic diseases. The company hopes to begin clinical trials with the improved vector in 2023.

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References:

1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-021-01554-9
2. https://www.cell.com/molecular-therapy-family/molecular-therapy/fulltext/S1525-0016(22)00156-3
3. https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2022/04/13/bluebird-gene-therapy-blood-disorder/
4. https://pharmaphorum.com/news/second-unanimous-fda-adcomm-vote-boosts-bluebird-bio/
5. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/bluebird-is-sued-over-patents-related-to-blood-disease-drug
6. https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/42139132/Errant_Gene_Therapeutics,_LLC_v_Memorial_SloanKettering_Cancer_Center_et_al
7. https://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/9781510772199/flight-of-the-rondone/
8. https://www.wsj.com/articles/bestselling-books-week-ended-july-02-11657220685?st=aadf662dosccypf&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
9. https://www.amazon.com/Flight-Rondone-School-Dropout-Pharma-ebook/dp/B09RX3FC6B/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1657615625&sr=8-1
10. https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/flight-of-the-rondone-patrick-girondi/1140872375
11. https://booklist.usatoday.com/

Aurora DeRose
Boundless Media Inc.
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