iOmx Therapeutics Strengthens Executive Management Team and Supervisory Board
MARTINSRIED, Germany and MUNICH, Oct. 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- iOmx Therapeutics AG (iOmx), a biopharmaceutical company developing cancer therapeutics based on novel immune checkpoint targets, today announced significant changes to the company's executive management team. Apollon Papadimitriou, Ph.D. was appointed as chief executive officer and Marcus Irsfeld as chief financial officer. Co-founder Dr. Nisit Khandelwal continues to serve as head of research and member of the executive management team.
Steven St. Peter, M.D., managing director of Vie Ventures and former president and CEO of Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: PETX), was elected to chairman of iOmx' Supervisory Board. Henrijette Richter of Sofinnova has assumed the role of vice chairman of the Supervisory Board. Patrick A. Baeuerle, Ph.D., an executive partner of MPM Capital and a co-founder and scientific advisor of iOmx, has been called as a new member of the Supervisory Board. Additionally, Tony Rosenberg, executive partner at MPM Capital, and Prof. Philipp Beckhove, managing director of Regensburg Center for Interventional Immunology (RCI) and a co-founder and scientific advisor of iOmx, continue as Supervisory Board members.
The build-out of iOmx' executive management team and Supervisory Board follows recent presentations at CICON 2019, which demonstrated the capabilities of iOTarg(TM), iOmx' proprietary, high-throughput genetic screening platform, to discover and validate novel, druggable immune-checkpoint targets. Researchers at iOmx discovered SIK3 kinase as an immune checkpoint in multiple solid tumors and IGSF11 as a novel immune checkpoint in PD-L1-resistant tumors. Based on these discoveries, iOmx has initiated pre-clinical development of proprietary therapeutics that are designed to target SIK3 and IGSF11.
"The expansion of our executive management team and Supervisory Board has infused iOmx with an exceptional blend of operational, scientific, financial and investor expertise as the company seeks to advance its novel drug candidates with monotherapy efficacy in multiple solid tumors," stated Dr. Papadimitriou. "As presented at CICON 2019, we successfully validated SIK3 kinase as an immune checkpoint in multiple solid tumors and IGSF11 as a checkpoint in PD-L1-resistant tumors and initiated respective pre-clinical development activities with our lead compounds."
Dr. Papadimitriou continued, "These accomplishments represent the first steps in a broader strategy to leverage our targets to build a pipeline of novel immunotherapies that address the many cancers that are not responsive to conventional checkpoint inhibitors."
Dr. St. Peter, commented, "Having identified two novel immune checkpoint targets and developed proprietary lead candidates to address each, iOmx has catapulted itself to the forefront of the immune-oncology industry. The new executive team will facilitate the transition from discovery stage to development stage. As iOmx' newly elected chairman, I am eager to bring my operating experience and, along with Patrick and the other Supervisory Board members, partner with Apollon, Nisit and Marcus to enable iOmx to succeed as a developer of next generation immuno-oncology therapies."
Executive Management Appointments
Apollon Papadimitriou, Ph.D. - Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Papadimitriou's career has been highlighted by numerous successes in biotherapeutics development where he has contributed significantly to the development and launch of many biologics products. Prior to being named CEO of iOmx, Dr. Papadimitriou was the company's Chief Development Officer, where he shepherded the discovery and development of drugs targeting SIK3 and IGSF11.
Before joining iOmx in 2017, Dr. Papadimitriou was Global Head Large Molecule Bioanalytical R&D and Pharmaceutical Sciences Site Head at Roche Innovation Center Munich. During his career at Roche, starting in 1997, Apollon held several leadership positions in Biologics R&D within Pharma Research and Early Development and has been a key contributor to the foundation, build-up and evolution of Roche´s global large molecule research organization and pipeline. Apollon is a biologist by training and earned his PhD in Biochemistry in 1995 from the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg, Germany.
Marcus Irsfeld - Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Irsfeld brings significant experience to iOmx having held CFO positions at several life sciences companies, in addition to serving as a financial consultant to numerous biotechnology and medical technology companies in varying stages of growth. Among his career accomplishments, Mr. Irsfeld served as CFO of ProCorde GmbH which merged with Trigen in 2006 and was the co-founder and CFO of Averitas Pharma Inc., which was successfully sold to Gruenenthal. Mr. Irsfeld holds a degree in Business Administration from the University of Münster, Germany.
Supervisory Board Appointments
Steven St. Peter, M.D. - Chairman, Supervisory Board
Steven St. Peter, MD is the Founder and Managing Director of Vie Ventures, a life sciences venture capital company. From 2012 until 2019, Dr. St. Peter was the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aratana, an animal health company focused on the licensing, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics.
Dr. St. Peter was previously an investment professional at The Carlyle Group, Apax Partners and MPM Capital, and his investment scope included both venture and buyout transactions across the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries. Over the past decades, Dr. St. Peter has founded, invested in and/or been involved with several life sciences companies including Align Technologies, Medpointe, ESP Pharma, SkinMedica, Omrix, Pharmathene, Xanodyne, Syndax, EKR Therapeutics, Proteon, Rhythm, Aratana and many others.
Previously, Dr. St. Peter was Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University. He received a Doctor of Medicine degree from Washington University and completed his residency and fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Chemistry from the University of Kansas.
Patrick A. Baeuerle, Ph.D. - Member, Supervisory Board
Dr. Baeuerle has been an executive partner at MPM Capital since 2015 where he cofounded six new companies in the immuno-oncology space. In 2019, he was elected entrepreneur ("X") of the year by Xconomy and received the Lennart Philipson Award from the EMBL for his contributions to cancer immunotherapy. Prior to MPM, Dr. Baeuerle served as Vice President, Research, and General Manager, Amgen Research GmbH, where he oversaw translational science leading to the market approval of BiTE antibody Blincyto® which was approved within three months by the US FDA for therapy of relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Prior to Amgen, Dr. Baeuerle served as Chief Scientific Officer for Micromet, Inc., and earlier oversaw drug discovery at Tularik Inc., both publicly traded biotechnology companies acquired by Amgen (AMGN).
A renowned researcher and innovator, Dr. Baeuerle has published more than 260 publications that were cited more than 70,000 times. His Hirsh-index is 127 and globally ranks him among the top 0.01% of most frequently cited scientists. He holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Munich and performed post-doctoral research with Dr. David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is also an Honorary Professor of Immunology of the Medical Faculty at Munich University.
About iOmx Therapeutics
iOmx (www.iomx.com) focuses on the development of first-in-class cancer therapeutics addressing novel immune checkpoints hijacked by cancer cells. The company's proprietary platform, iOTarg(TM), systematically screens tumor cells for expression of immune checkpoint modulators, that, when knocked-down, increase T cell immunity against cancer cells. iOmx is building a pipeline of promising cancer immunotherapeutics based on novel, proprietary targets with a known mode of action. Founded in 2016 based on the work of its scientific founders Philipp Beckhove and Nisit Khandelwal conducted at the German Cancer Research Center, the company has been funded by MPM Capital (both its BV2014 and UBS Oncology Impact Funds), Sofinnova Partners, Wellington Partners and Merck Ventures and is based in Martinsried / Munich, Germany.
Contact:
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212-375-2665
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SOURCE iOmx Therapeutics AG
