BEVERLY, MA--(Marketwire -05/07/12)- Cellceutix Corporation (the "Company"), a biopharmaceutical company developing a novel drug to treat cancers and cancers which have proven resistant to today's cancer therapies (drug-resistant cancers), is pleased to announce that Syracuse University's legendary men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim has joined Cellceutix as an advisor to the Company.
Coach Boeheim has earned icon status in the world of basketball. Coaching on the sidelines of the Carrier Dome court that is now named after him, Boeheim has an 890-305 (.745) overall record; ranking him second in wins among active Division I coaches and third all-time in college basketball. Syracuse has nine Big East regular season championships, five Big East Tournament championships and 28 trips into the NCAA Tournament, including four Final Four appearances with a NCAA championship in 2003. Boeheim has earned bronze and gold medals for his role as assistant coach in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, the 2006 FIBA World Championship, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey. This summer, he will once again be filling the position in the latest edition of the "Dream Team" during the Olympics in London, England. In September 2005, Boeheim was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Boeheim's list of basketball accolades are only paralleled by his philanthropic efforts in the field of cancer. Surviving his own battle with prostate cancer, Boeheim now heads the Jim and Juli Boeheim Foundation and has become a major advocate for Coaches vs. Cancer, the Children's Miracle Network, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Easter Seals, the Special Olympics and more. His dedication to Coaches vs. Cancer, a non-profit collaboration between the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the American Cancer Society, has helped raise $4.5 million for the American Cancer Society's Central New York chapter over the past 12 years.
"After speaking with Cellceutix about their planned clinical trial plans at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and learning about the p53 connection with Kevetrin™ as a completely new class of chemistry in medicine, I was compelled to support their efforts," said Jim Boeheim. "I am genuinely excited to begin this new challenge to bring an underdog to a championship."
"We are thrilled to have Coach Boeheim joining our own version of a 'Dream Team,'" commented Cellceutix CEO Leo Ehrlich. "His efforts both on and off the court epitomize a true champion, and that's exactly what we want to surround ourselves with. Coach's relationships in the cancer industry and tireless work ethic will help spread the important message about the potential of Kevetrin™ to medical experts and members of the public whose lives could be changed for the better as the compound enters into clinical trials."
