Surefire Medical Appoints Former AbbVie Executive to Its Board of Directors

Surefire Medical Inc. (Surefire) has appointed Anil Singhal, Ph.D., to its board of directors, deepening its leadership capabilities in oncology. Singhal currently serves as chief scientific officer for OncoResponse, a company focused on the development of therapeutic antibodies for cancer, and serves as executive in residence for Canaan Partners, focused on early-stage healthcare and technology.
 
Singhal has extensive experience in oncology, leading early-stage oncology drug development for AbbVie, where he created an organizational focus around immuno-oncology and biological therapies for cancer resulting in many new oncology programs entering clinical development. As the site head for AbbVie Redwood City, he also oversaw the successful development and approval of Empliciti in multiple myeloma. Prior to AbbVie, Singhal served as executive medical director for Facet Biotech, overseeing phase I/II clinical development studies for multiple myeloma. Also, he has held roles of increasing responsibility in oncology research at several pharmaceutical and biotech organizations. Singhal held academic appointments at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and University of Washington prior to his role in the industry.
 
“We’re thrilled to have Anil join Surefire’s board of directors. We’ve built a strong drug delivery foundation through our work in HCC, and with new research and a pipeline of proprietary technology, we’re continuing the transformation of Surefire Medical into an oncology drug-delivery company,” said Mary Szela, CEO of Surefire. “Anil brings a wealth of knowledge and creativity in executing drug delivery programs and his extensive relationships across the industry will accelerate the development and application of Surefire’s technology to make a significant impact in cancer care.”
 
“New treatments for cancer hold such promise, and we’re just beginning to understand the potential of immuno-oncology therapies. Improvements in drug delivery will be essential for fully capturing the potential of new therapeutic agents. Surefire is poised to make an impact in how we apply an integrated approach using chemotherapy, immunotherapy and drug delivery together to more effectively impact solid tumors,” said Singhal.
 
Singhal earned his doctorate from the Waksman Institute at Rutgers University and an executive master’s degree in business development from the University of Washington at Seattle. He’s a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, and Task Force for Immuno-therapy, SITC.
 
The high intratumoral pressure created by the tumor microenvironment limits the flow and accumulation of therapy in solid tumors. Interventional medical devices employing Pressure-enabled Drug Delivery (PEDD) can improve drug delivery to the tumor by creating a favorable pressure gradient that penetrates the hostile tumor microenvironment and increases drug concentration in the tumor without increasing systemic toxicity. Locoregional infusion with the Surefire-patented technology has been used in nearly 8,000 procedures worldwide for liver cancer and can be applied to a variety of other high-pressure solid tumors.
 
Surefire Medical is a privately held medical device firm in Westminster, Colo., focused on making the administration of cancer therapies safer and more effective for patients. Surefire Medical created the Pressure-enabled Drug Delivery technology and is committed to developing other applications of the technology for use in other solid tumors and for the administration of immuno-oncology (IO) therapies. Surefire Medical was founded in 2011.