Biotech company Hummingbird Bioscience revealed on Monday the addition of James P. Allison, PhD and Padmanee Sharma, MD, PhD to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) .

The company stated that Dr Allison shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for his discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. His work led to development of an antibody to human CTLA-4 called ipilimumab, which is the first immune checkpoint blockade therapy ever approved by the US FDA.

Presently, Dr Allison is a member of the National Academies of Science and Medicine, chair of the Department of Immunology, the Vivian L. Smith Distinguished chair in Immunology, the executive director of the Immunotherapy Platform as well as co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Dr Sharma is an oncologist specialising in renal, bladder and prostate cancer, with focus on understanding resistance mechanisms within the immune system that impact anti-tumour responses. Her work on new pathways to treat prostate cancer implicated for the first time in human tumour the checkpoint VISTA in inhibiting immune responses, said the company.

Currently, Dr Sharma is a professor of Genitourinary Medical Oncology and Immunology in the Division of Cancer Medicine, the TC and Jeanette Hsu Endowed chair in Cell Biology, the scientific director of the Immunotherapy Platform as well as the co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.