Hervolution ApS

None  Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Max Bayer or Gabrielle Masson, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.   Scorpion’s CEO, CMO out the door Scorpion Therapeutics It’s a new year and change is afoot at Scorpion Therapeutics, with both former CEO Axel Hoos, M.D., Ph.D., and CMO Michael Streit, M.D., hitting the exits.  Industry veteran Hoos has led the oncology company since July 2021, when he left GSK for Scorpion. At the time, Hoos had taken the reins from interim CEO Adam Friedman, M.D., Ph.D., who will now take back the top title, this time without the temporary designation. Friedman is part of Scorpion’s founding team and most recently served as the biotech’s president of corporate strategy and business development.    The Boston biotech is also replacing Streit, who was the first to fill the company’s chief medical officer position. Streit joined in 2022 from Sanofi, where he had most recently served as vice president and senior project head.  Now, Mark Chao, M.D., Ph.D., will take over as CMO. He joins Scorpion from TenSixteen Bio, where he served as co-founder and CEO.  But the changes don’t stop there. Scorpion has also promoted Erica Jackson, Ph.D., to chief discovery officer. She previously served as the company’s executive vice president of biology. Fierce Biotech  CRISPR hunts for new CMO  CRISPR Therapeutics CRISPR Therapeutics Chief Medical Officer Phuong Khanh Morrow, M.D., is resigning—a decision that was announced six days after the company secured FDA approval for its Vertex-partnered gene therapy Casgevy. The biotech has already kicked off the search for a new CMO, a spokesperson told Fierce Biotech. “CRISPR Therapeutics has a seasoned leadership team with extensive experience managing clinical development for CRISPR’s programs and is well positioned to successfully manage the transition,” a spokesperson said via email. Morrow, who has been with the company since May 2022, will officially depart Jan. 26. Her resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the gene-editing company, according to CRISPR Tx. Before joining the Swiss-American biotech, Morrow spent more than 10 years in various leadership roles at Amgen. Fierce Biotech  Long-time Evotec CEO steps down Evotec Evotec’s CEO Werner Lanthaler has resigned from his role before his expected end of term, which was set for March 2026, citing personal reasons.  Lanthaler, who has led the German biotech since 2009, will serve as a strategic advisor to Evotec’s board, which has launched a search for a permanent CEO.  Until a successor is chosen, board member Mario Polywka will take on the role of interim CEO. Ploywka had served as Evotec’s chief operating officer from 2006 to 2018. Release  > LianBio CEO Yizhe Wang, Ph.D., is headed for the exits in pursuit of new opportunities. Chief Investment Officer Adam Stone will be the interim chief while the search for a permanent replacement begins. Release > Ex-Biogen CEO Michel Vounatsos has joined the board of Quris-AI. Former Merck regional president Yossi Ben Amram was also named president of the company. Release > Vicore Pharma has hired Bertil Lindmark, Ph.D., M.D., to serve as chief medical officer, taking the reins from Rohit Batta. Lindmark joins from Galecto, where he also held the CMO role, and has previous experience as AstraZeneca’s global vice president of clinical development for respiratory and inflammation. Release > Applied Therapeutics has named Constantine Chinoporos as its new chief operating officer and chief business officer. He’s been a strategic advisor for Apollo Therapeutics since February 2023 after past c-suite roles at other biotechs. Disclosure > Innate Pharma CEO Mondher Mahjoubi has resigned to pursue a new gig at a larger pharmaceutical company, the European biotech announced. Chairman and co-founder Hervé Brailly will be the interim leader while the search for a replacement gets underway. Release > SpliceBio will bring on Aniz Girach, M.D., as chief medical officer. Girach was previously CMO of fellow gene editing biotech ProQR until March 2023. Release > New year, new gig for Nathan Dowden, who’s been promoted at Entrada from chief operating officer to president and COO. He’s been with the company since 2019 after working at Rubius. Release > Relmada CMO Cedric O’Gorman, M.D., is leaving the company after one year. He previously was the chief medical officer at Alpha Cognition. Release > After Zevra’s recent acquisition of Acer, Adrian Quartel, M.D., will become the new chief medical officer. He was the CMO of Acer and was the chief medical officer of Adamis before that. Release > ARIAD Pharmaceuticals founder Harvey Berger, M.D., has been hired as the new CEO of Kojin Therapeutics. Kojin is backed by the likes of Leaps By Bayer and AbbVie’s venture arm. Release > Included in Radionetics Oncology’s latest financing announcement was news that the biotech has brought on Paul Grayson as CEO. He was most recently president and CEO of fellow oncology company Tentarix Biotherapeutics. Release  > Mineralys Therapeutics has tapped Minji Kim, Ph.D., to serve as chief business officer. Before Mineralys, she held the same role at Affamed Therapeutics and has past experience at Jounce Therapeutics, Curis and Hoffmann-La Roche. Release > ProMIS Neurosciences is bringing on Neil Warma as interim CEO to replace Gail Farfel, Ph.D. Warma has been a director on the company’s board since 2022. Release > Brii is bringing aboard former HemoShear CSO Brian Alvin Johns, Ph.D., for the same role. Before HemoShear, he was VP of discovery at Viiv and GSK. Release > Heike Keilhack, Ph.D., is joining ROME Therapeutics as chief scientific officer. She previously was CSO and oversaw R&D of two now-clinical-stage PARP inhibitors at Ribon Therapeutics. Release > Diagnostics vet Brian Kim is the new CEO of genomics company Mission Bio, the company announced. He previously was CEO of Fortis Life Science and held other leadership roles at Biosearch Technologies and PerkinElmer. Release > SV Health Investors has appointed Nikola Trbovic as managing partner and Jamil Beg as partner. The two will help steer the firm’s biotech portfolio, which includes companies like Bicycle and Nimbus. Release > CymaBay Therapeutics and former Chief Commercial Officer Lewis Stuart mutually agreed that Stuart would leave the company on Dec. 29. CymaBay’s VP Liver Franchise Lead Ben Kozub will assume leadership of commercial organization. Release > Alaunos Therapeutics has tapped Dale Curtis Hogue, Jr., to serve as director of the immuno-oncology company. Hogue most recently founded Dune Lake Capital and previously worked as a senior analyst at Discovery Capital Management. Release > Viatris has chosen Philippe Martin to lead the company’s research and development as chief R&D officer. Martin has clocked in past experience at Celgene and Schering-Plough (acquired by Merck). Release > Noriyuki Kasahara, M.D., Ph.D., is moving from 4DMT’s board to its C-suite, being named chief scientific officer. Kasahara is a brain surgeon who previously worked at UCSF. Release > Scribe Therapeutics’ next chief scientific officer and head of research and development will be Aarif Khakoo, M.D., who joins the CRISPR genetic medicines company from Calico Life Sciences. Also joining the biotech is Maria Mirotsou, Ph.D., as vice president of discovery biology. Release > Eterna Therapeutics has picked Sanjeev Luther as its next CEO, as of Jan. 1. He succeeds Matt Angel, Ph.D. Luther has spent the past 30 years at various roles across biopharma, most recently as CEO at Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals. Release > Henrik Luessen is the new chief business officer for German biotech Eleva, which has a moss-based platform that develops complex proteins for treatment of diseases. Release > Ashvattha Therapeutics has named Mehdi Paborji, Ph.D., as senior vice president of technical operations to oversee CMC and manufacturing for the biotech’s nanomedicines. Release  > Deka Biosciences has tapped Stanley Frankel, M.D., to serve as senior clinical advisor, interim chief medical officer and scientific advisory board member. The hematologist-oncologist joins Deka with past experience as SVP, global drug development for cell therapy for BMS following the 2019 acquisition of Celgene. Release > HERVOLUTION Therapeutics has chosen J. Robert Coleman, Ph.D., to lead the biotech as CEO. Before joining HERVOLUTION, Coleman co-founded Codagenix and served as the company’s CEO for 12 years. Release > ImPact Biotech has appointed clinical radiologist Eyal Morag, M.D., to be the company’s chief medical officer. Morag joins from Microbot Medical, where he was also CMO, and currently serves in scientific and medical advisory roles at Aidoc Medical, Vortex Imaging and HighRad. Release

COPENHAGEN, Denmark and NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HERVOLUTION Therapeutics ApS ('HERVOLUTION'), a pioneering biotechnology company focused on developing novel immunotherapies to treat dark genome targets in cancer, aging, and neurodegeneration, today announces the appointment of J. Robert Coleman, PhD, MBA as its Chief Executive Officer. J. Robert Coleman PhD, MBA, has over 12 years' experience in building successful biotech companies, with a particular focus on driving platform technologies from initial innovation to Phase 3 clinical trials - ultimately enabling the development of multi-asset, multi-disease area pipelines. Dr Coleman co-founded and was CEO of Codagenix where he secured up to $498M in public and private financing to support early and late-stage development of viral-based vaccines and therapeutics - understanding all aspects of manufacturing, regulatory, and clinical design. His skillset is advancing groundbreaking preclinical discoveries into first-in-human proof of concept trials and beyond; thus, Coleman's expertise aligns seamlessly with HERVOLUTION's mission. The human genomes encode Human Endogenous Retroviral genes (HERVs) that remain as part of the dark genome from retroviral infections of our predecessors. These HERVs are not expressed in healthy cells but become activated in cancer, aging, and neurodegeneration. HERVs have escaped immune targeting as they are normally recognized as "self". Now, HERVOLUTION has a proprietary approach to immune target HERVs using rationally designed HERV antigens that break tolerance and enable the immune system to kill cells expressing HERVs and blocking HERVs from propagating further disease. Sven Rohmann, MD, Phd, MBA, Chairman of HERVOLUTION, stated: "We are so delighted to welcome Rob to the HERVOLUTION team. His exceptional leadership, strategic acumen, and deep understanding of the biotech landscape makes him the ideal entrepreneur to launch the Company towards achieving its transformative vision. Rob's ability to navigate the journey from early-stage innovation to clinical advancement will undoubtedly play a pivotal role in realizing the full potential of HERVOLUTION's pioneering immunotherapies." J. Robert Coleman, newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of HERVOLUTION, commented: "We have the ideal blend for an emerging biotech - innovative, differentiated, and proprietary science combined with a dedicated and motivated team to bring forward a transformative, multi-dimensional immunotherapy platform. HERVOLUTION's pipeline includes therapies that target HERV expression in prostate, pancreatic, breast and other cancers, as well as in senescent cells and degenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). I look forward to working with the talented team to unlock the full potential of HERVs, ultimately changing the landscape of cancer and aging therapeutics." HERVOLUTION is committed to revolutionizing immunotherapy by targeting HERVs as tumor and senescence-specific antigens, antigens that had until now remained elusive for immunotherapy. About HERVOLUTION Therapeutics: HERVOLUTION Therapeutics (formerly InProTher Aps) is a biotechnology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark, and expanding into the US via Dr. Coleman's appointment. The vision of HERVOLUTION is to lead the development of novel immunotherapies that target the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) as tumor and senescence-specific antigens. HERVOLUTION will solve bottlenecks and unleash the full potential of immuno-oncology. To date, HERVOLUTION has put in place a world-class scientific team and created an emerging product development pipeline, including a leading programme targeted to enter clinic in 2024. Initial investors in HERVOLUTION include the BioInnovation Institute (Novo Nordisk Foundation), Vaekstfonden (Denmark), the European Innovation Council Fund, and expert Business Angels. For more information, please visit: Hervolutiontx.com SOURCE HERVOLUTION Therapeutics

Danish start-up developing immunotherapies designed to fight the tumors from within Financing supports GMP and toxicology studies and will advance InProTher's first-in-class cancer immunotherapy into First-in-Human clinical trials Strengthens team with appointment of industry heavyweights Dr. Sven Rohmann as Chairman and Dr. Hamina Patel as CMO COPENHAGEN, Denmark, May 24, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- InProTher, an early-stage biotechnology company developing effective immunotherapies targeting the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs), today announces that it has raised EUR 6M Seed funding from private investors, with participation from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund. The financing will enable InProTher to advance its lead drug candidate, IPT001, a first-in-class immunotherapy against solid tumors, into clinical development. Incubated at the BioInnovation Institute (BII) and seeded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, InProTher was established to develop immunotherapies designed to overcome the limitations of cancer vaccines. InProTher is targeting the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) to treat cancer. HERVS are well recognized as tumor specific antigens, but until now, have been undruggable. InProTher is targeting HERV tumor antigens with powerful technology that stimulates both arms of the immune system, the humoral and the cellular response. The Company delivers the immunogen by using Adenoviral and RNA vectors. InProTher has generated robust pre-clinical, proof-of-concept data that demonstrates therapeutic potential for multiple oncology indications including pancreatic, ovarian, breast and prostate cancer. It plans to enter First-In-Human (FIH) trials in 2024. To support its growth, InProTher has appointed Dr Hamina Patel, MD, as Chief Medical Officer, and Dr Sven Rohmann, MD, PhD, MBA as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Jordi Naval, Chief Executive Officer of InProTher said: "InProTher is shifting the paradigm in cancer immunotherapy and is at an exciting phase of growth. Our aim is to unlock the full potential of immunotherapy in cancer. We believe InProTher can solve the limitations of current cancer vaccines, as our pre-clinical data has shown that our immunotherapy induces higher tumor control, survival rate and tumor efficacy, compared to other competing approaches. I am very pleased to welcome Sven and Hamina to InProTher. Their expertise and track record of success will be invaluable as we accelerate the development of our lead candidate into clinical development." Hermann Hauser, the EIC Fund Board member commented: "The EIC Fund has established itself as a strong force in EU deep-tech investments. This unique form of financing via EIC combining grants and equity is proving itself highly attractive to Europe's most promising start-ups." Dr Sven Rohmann, newly appointed Chairman added: "I am thrilled to have joined the Board of Directors of InProTher at this time of company expansion. The Company is working on cutting-edge technology at the forefront of cancer immunotherapies, and I look forward to taking this technology into clinics." Dr Patel has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry with proven track record of leadership roles in clinical development, oncology and global commercialization, having previously held positions as Director of Drug Development, Oncology, at Johnson and Johnson, where she helped build a broad and differentiated portfolio of indications for the cancer drug VELCADE. Dr Rohmann is experienced in General Management and leadership and has a track record in raising funds for SMEs and public companies. He has extensive international experience in M&A, business and corporate development, clinical development, strategic marketing and portfolio management in small- and large-scale Venture Capital Financing at Merck, Novartis and MPM Bio IV NVS Strategic Fund. The Seed round of EUR 6M includes private investors and a convertible loan from EICF. InProTher is planning to raise an additional Series A to finance the pivot from preclinical to clinical development. About InProTher InProTher is a biotechnology company based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The vision of InProTher is to lead the development of novel immunotherapies that target the Human Endogenous Retroviruses (HERVs) as tumor-specific antigens. InProTher will solve bottlenecks and unleash the full potential of immuno-oncology, not only in terms of cancer vaccines but also in further expanding the use of checkpoint inhibitors to multiple indications and patient populations. To date, InProTher has put in place a world-class scientific team and created an emerging product development pipeline, including a leading programme targeted to enter clinics in 2024. Initial investors in InProTher include the BioInnovation Institute (Novo Foundation), and Vaekstfonden (Denmark). About the EIC Fund The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance. The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding. The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries. SOURCE InProTher