16 January 2018 - - US-based specialty pharmaceutical company Humanetics Corp. has appointed vice Admiral Matthew L. Nathan, M.D. (ret. 2016) to its Medical advisory board, the company said.

In this capacity, Dr. Nathan will work with the company to help guide its efforts to develop FDA-approved drugs for the protection of warfighters.

Nathan served as the 37th Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, where he oversaw 64,000 personnel with a budget approaching USD 9bn.

He also served as commander of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Navy Medicine, where he managed the largest medical integration and construction project in Department of Defense history.

Nathan is board certified and holds Fellow status in the American College of Physicians and the American College of Healthcare Executives.

He currently serves as senior vice president Physician Practices and Enterprise Leader for the Campus at the WakeMed Health System in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Humanetics is developing BIO 300, a proprietary new drug to protect against harm caused by exposure to ionizing radiation.

BIO 300 was licensed to Humanetics by the US Department of Defense, where its radioprotective properties were discovered. Humanetics is also developing BIO 300 for use in cancer patients that receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment.

It is currently being studied in a clinical trial in patients receiving radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer.

Humanetics is a clinical-stage specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the accelerated discovery, development and commercialisation of proprietary drugs in markets with urgent and unmet needs.

Its current products are radiomodulators for oncology indications and radioprotectants for use as medical countermeasures.