AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 02, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plus Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSTV) (the “Company”), today announced that Dr. An van Es-Johansson has joined the Company’s Board of Directors to serve as an independent director, effective January 1, 2020.

Dr. van Es-Johansson currently serves as the Chief Medical Officer for AlzeCure Pharma, a Swedish pharmaceutical company with a primary focus on Alzheimer’s disease, where she is responsible for regulatory, clinical development, clinical operations, and pharmacovigilance. From 2005-2018, Dr. van Es-Johansson served in a range of executive roles of increasing responsibility at Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (Sobi), an international specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on rare diseases. Dr. van Es-Johansson has leadership experience within large pharmaceutical and smaller biotechnology companies, including Roche, Eli Lilly, Active Biotech, and BioStratum. She currently serves on the Board of Directors at BioInvent International AB, Medivir AB, Agendia Inc., Savara Inc., and AlzeCure Pharma AB. Dr. van Es-Johansson received a M.D. from Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

"We are excited to welcome Dr. van-Es Johansson to our Board of Directors. An is an expert in developing orphan drugs that receive FDA and EMA product approval and achieve commercial success. Further, she has held global leadership roles across multiple disciplines of the life sciences industry, including clinical development, regulatory, and medical affairs, that will strengthen Plus’ experience in those areas," said Dr. Marc Hedrick, President and CEO of Plus Therapeutics.

"Plus’ nanotechnology platform and DocePLUS Phase 2-ready orphan drug product candidate for small cell lung cancer have the potential to substantially improve the lives of patients battling cancer and rare diseases,” commented Dr. van Es-Johansson. "In addition to helping advance DocePLUS toward regulatory approval, I look forward to supporting the organization in further expanding and strengthening its pipeline to help more patients in need."

About Plus Therapeutics, Inc.

Plus Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and manufacturing scale up of complex and innovative treatments for patients battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Our proprietary nanotechnology platform is currently centered around the enhanced delivery of a variety of drugs using novel liposomal encapsulation technology. Liposomal encapsulation has been extensively explored and undergone significant technical and commercial advances since it was first developed. Our platform is designed to facilitate new delivery approaches and/or formulations of safe and effective, injectable drugs, potentially enhancing the safety, efficacy and convenience for patients and healthcare providers.

Our lead product candidate, DocePLUS, is a protein-stabilized PEGylated liposomal formulation of docetaxel, for which the process of preparation is patented. The active pharmaceutical ingredient, docetaxel, was approved by the U.S. FDA in 1999 and commonly used for treating cancers of the breast, head, neck, stomach, prostate, and lung.