John L. Wallace

Last updated
John L. Wallace
Adjunct Professor, University of Calgary
Personal details
Born (1956-09-25) 25 September 1956 (age 66)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Residence(s)Toronto, Ontario
Alma mater Queen's University
University of Toronto
University of Birmingham
Profession Pharmaceutical Research Scientist
Website Faculty | John L. Wallace

John L. Wallace (born September 25, 1956) is a medical scientist and was the founder of the Inflammation Research Network at The University of Calgary and inaugural director of the Farncombe Institute at McMaster University. In November 2013, he became the tenth recipient of the Heymans Foundation Memorial Medal. Since its inauguration in 1972, the Medal had been awarded twelve times; six of the recipients are Nobel Laureates. [1] Wallace is also the 2009 recipient of the Premier's Summit Award in Innovation, [2] Canada's largest value research award (C$5 million) aimed at supporting the work of an individual scientist. [3]

Contents

He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the British Pharmacological Society, and a fellow and former president of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology. Wallace is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Calgary, the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Toronto, and in the University Camilo Castelo Branco in São Paulo, Brazil.

He is Chief Scientific Officer of Antibe Therapeutics Inc., which he founded. Antibe Therapeutics is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX:ATE).

John L. Wallace is a citizen of Canada, The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.

Research focus

Wallace's current research focuses on the mechanisms of internal injury induced by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and other anti-inflammatory drugs. In parallel, Wallace has been investigating the factors that regulate and promote healing of ulcers. [4] He is also researching the causes of inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis).

Career

Wallace's career has centred on the use of gaseous mediators to treat inflammation, particularly intestinal injury and dysfunction. Wallace has published more than 500 peer-reviewed papers and is among the top 0.5 percent of biomedical scientists worldwide in citations (> 42,000), with a current Hirsch index of 110. [5]

From 1989 to 2009, Wallace was a professor of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Calgary, where he held the Canada Research Chair in Inflammation. In 2005, he acted as an invited expert for the US Food and Drug Administration's review of COX-2 inhibitors such as Vioxx. [6]

Wallace graduated from Queen's University with his BSc and MSc and received his PhD from the University of Toronto. He completed his post-doctoral studies under Dr. Brendan Whittle, Sir John Vane and Sir Salvador Moncada at Wellcome Research Laboratories in the UK. From 1986 to 1989, he was an assistant professor at Queen's University. In 1989, he joined the University of Calgary, where he founded the Inflammation Research Network and held the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada Chair in Intestinal Disease Research. Wallace received an MBA from the University of Birmingham (UK) in 2008. In 2014, Wallace co-founded the Inflammation Research Network of Canada. [7]

Wallace co-founded NicOx in 1996, creating the first pharmaceutical company to commercialize gaseous mediator technology. [8] Dr Wallace was chair of NicOx's Scientific Advisory Board from 1996 to 2003, which included Nobel Laureates Bengt Samuelsson and Louis Ignarro. This board oversaw the development of nitric oxide-releasing NSAIDs. [8] He is also the founder of Antibe Therapeutics, which is developing a gaseous mediator drug development platform based on hydrogen sulfide. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug</span> Class of therapeutic drug for relieving pain and inflammation

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are members of a therapeutic drug class which reduces pain, decreases inflammation, decreases fever, and prevents blood clots. Side effects depend on the specific drug, its dose and duration of use, but largely include an increased risk of gastrointestinal ulcers and bleeds, heart attack, and kidney disease.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crohn's disease</span> Type of inflammatory bowel disease

Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal distension, and weight loss. Complications outside of the gastrointestinal tract may include anemia, skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye, and fatigue. The skin rashes may be due to infections as well as pyoderma gangrenosum or erythema nodosum. Bowel obstruction may occur as a complication of chronic inflammation, and those with the disease are at greater risk of colon cancer and small bowel cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ulcerative colitis</span> Inflammatory bowel disease that causes ulcers in the colon

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a long-term condition that results in inflammation and ulcers of the colon and rectum. The primary symptoms of active disease are abdominal pain and diarrhea mixed with blood (hematochezia). Weight loss, fever, and anemia may also occur. Often, symptoms come on slowly and can range from mild to severe. Symptoms typically occur intermittently with periods of no symptoms between flares. Complications may include abnormal dilation of the colon (megacolon), inflammation of the eye, joints, or liver, and colon cancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibuprofen</span> Medication used for treating pain, fever, and inflammation

Ibuprofen is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that is used to relieve pain, fever, and inflammation. This includes painful menstrual periods, migraines, and rheumatoid arthritis. It may also be used to close a patent ductus arteriosus in a premature baby. It can be used by mouth or intravenously. It typically begins working within an hour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inflammatory bowel disease</span> Medical condition

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine, Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis being the principal types. Crohn's disease affects the small intestine and large intestine, as well as the mouth, esophagus, stomach and the anus, whereas ulcerative colitis primarily affects the colon and the rectum.

Anti-inflammatory is the property of a substance or treatment that reduces inflammation or swelling. Anti-inflammatory drugs, also called anti-inflammatories, make up about half of analgesics. These drugs remedy pain by reducing inflammation as opposed to opioids, which affect the central nervous system to block pain signaling to the brain.

Sérgio Henrique Ferreira was a Brazilian physician and pharmacologist noted for the discovery of the bradykinin potentiating factor, which led to new and widely used anti-hypertension drugs — the ACE inhibitors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nimesulide</span> Anti-inflammatory drug

Nimesulide is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with pain medication and fever reducing properties. Its approved indications are the treatment of acute pain, the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis, and primary dysmenorrhoea in adolescents and adults above 12 years old.

Pouchitis is an umbrella term for inflammation of the ileal pouch, an artificial rectum surgically created out of ileum in patients who have undergone a proctocolectomy or total colectomy. The ileal pouch-anal anastomosis is created in the management of patients with ulcerative colitis, indeterminate colitis, familial adenomatous polyposis, cancer, or rarely, other colitides.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological therapy for inflammatory bowel disease</span>

Biological therapy, the use of medications called biopharmaceuticals or biologics that are tailored to specifically target an immune or genetic mediator of disease, plays a major role in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Even for diseases of unknown cause, molecules that are involved in the disease process have been identified, and can be targeted for biological therapy. Many of these molecules, which are mainly cytokines, are directly involved in the immune system. Biological therapy has found a niche in the management of cancer, autoimmune diseases, and diseases of unknown cause that result in symptoms due to immune related mechanisms.

Ustekinumab, sold under the brand name Stelara is a monoclonal antibody medication developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, for the treatment of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, targeting both IL-12 and IL-23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meclofenamic acid</span> Chemical compound

Meclofenamic acid is a drug used for joint, muscular pain, arthritis and dysmenorrhea. It is a member of the anthranilic acid derivatives class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and was approved by the US FDA in 1980. Like other members of the class, it is a cyclooxygenase (COX) inhibitor, preventing the formation of prostaglandins.

COX-inhibiting nitric oxide donators (CINODs), also known as NO-NSAIDs, are a new class of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) developed with the intention of providing greater safety than existing NSAIDs.

Naproxcinod (nitronaproxen) is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) developed by the French pharmaceutical company NicOx. It is a derivative of naproxen with a nitroxybutyl ester to allow it to also act as a nitric oxide (NO) donor. This second mechanism of action makes naproxcinod the first in a new class of drugs, the cyclooxygenase inhibiting nitric oxide donators (CINODs), that are hoped to produce similar analgesic efficacy to traditional NSAIDs, but with less gastrointestinal and cardiovascular side effects.

Vedolizumab, sold under the brand name Entyvio, is a monoclonal antibody medication developed by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the treatment of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. It binds to integrin α4β7. Blocking the α4β7 integrin results in gut-selective anti-inflammatory activity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antibe Therapeutics</span> Pharmaceutical corporation

Antibe Therapeutics is a Toronto-based pharmaceutical company that develops pain and inflammation-reducing drugs based on gaseous mediator technology. Antibe was founded by John L. Wallace, also a co-founder of NicOx, the first company to develop drugs utilizing gaseous mediators. Founded in 2009, the company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2013 and was moved to the Toronto Stock Exchange in November 2020. In 2015, Antibe acquired Citagenix, a distributor involved in regenerative medicine. On June 1, 2020, the company announced positive results in the final Phase 2 trial of its first drug.

Gaseous mediators are chemicals that are produced in small amounts by some cells of the mammalian body and have a number of biological signalling functions. There are three so-far-identified gaseous mediator molecules: nitric oxide (NO), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and carbon monoxide (CO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alicaforsen</span> Chemical compound

Alicaforsen is an antisense oligonucleotide therapeutic that targets the messenger RNA for the production of human ICAM-1 receptor and is being developed for the treatment of acute disease flares in moderate to severe Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grapiprant</span> Chemical compound

Grapiprant is a small molecule drug that belongs in the piprant class. This analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug is primarily used as a pain relief for mild to moderate inflammation related to osteoarthritis in dogs. Grapiprant has been approved by the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine and was categorized as a non-cyclooxygenase inhibiting non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) in March 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otenaproxesul</span>

Otenaproxesul is a analgesic and anti-inflammatory drug being developed by Antibe Therapeutics. An NSAID structurally derived from naproxen, in 2016 it received approval to commence phase II clinical trials as a treatment for osteoarthritis after completing phase I clinical trials in 2015. In 2018, the drug completed trials for gastrointestinal safety, and in 2020 completed phase IIb trials on efficacy of pain reduction. Initial phase III clinical trials in 2021 failed to meet the necessary criteria to advance to the next phase.

References

  1. ↑ "Heymans Institute for Pharmacology". Universiteit Gent. Archived from the original on 2021-03-05. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  2. ↑ "Farncombe director receives Premier's Summit Award".
  3. ↑ "MaRS Discovery District - Summit Awards recognize UHN, McMaster scientists". Archived from the original on 2010-09-22. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
  4. ↑ "Leadership". Archived from the original on 2010-04-04. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  5. ↑ "John L Wallace". scholar.google.com. Archived from the original on 2021-07-20. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Food and Drug Administration . Archived from the original on 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2019-12-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ "IRN | Home". University of Calgary. Archived from the original on 2021-05-15. Retrieved 2021-02-17.
  8. 1 2 "NicOx Company Profile". Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-09-23.
  9. ↑ "Antibe Therapeutics". Archived from the original on 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2022-01-04.
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