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Visionary sector leaders Dan Menichella and Jo Brewer, PhD join as Non-Executive Directors Bringing strengths in strategy, immuno-oncology science execution from bench to approval, major partnerships and collaborations, and biotech scale up To support the acceleration of proof-of-concept cancer vaccine, ITOP1, into Phase I/IIa clinical development, to prevent the recurrence of oesophageal cancers OXFORD, England, March 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Infinitopes, a pioneering precision immuno-oncology company, today announced the appointments of Dan Menichella and Jo Brewer, PhD as Non-Executive Directors to its Board as the company prepares to transition into a clinical stage company with lead vaccine candidate, ITOP1, to treat patients with oesophageal cancer. Dan Menichella is a seasoned biotech executive, who brings extensive experience in vaccine development, strategic partnerships, and rapid corporate growth. As CEO and CBO of CureVac's U.S. subsidiary, he built out the Boston operation, delivered four deals in his first year – including a multi-product cancer vaccine collaboration with Eli Lilly worth up to $1.7 billion. He became CEO of CureVac AG in 2018. Before CureVac, Dan served as CBO at Bamboo Therapeutics, where he spearheaded the in-licensing of a Duchenne muscular dystrophy programme, unlocking the company's $43 million series A and subsequent $645 million buyout by Pfizer. He has significant fundraising experience and led many large transactions, including partnerships with Lilly, Biogen, and Takeda, and supported IPO's and successful exits. Dan's proven ability to forge high-value alliances and advance breakthrough therapeutics underscores his expertise in guiding life science ventures to success. Dan Menichella, incoming Non-Executive Director at Infinitopes, added: "I am honoured to join Infinitopes' Board of Directors at this exciting time for the company, as we begin the Phase I/IIa clinical trial in oesophageal cancer. Infinitopes is a highly innovative company with a strong commitment to cancer research. Its approach holds the promise to revolutionise cancer treatments for patients, and I am excited and committed to support Jonathan and the team as they embark on this groundbreaking path." Jo Brewer, PhD, is a recognised industry leader in cancer immunotherapy and cell therapies, with over 20 years of experience bringing cutting-edge treatments from discovery to the clinic. Currently serving as CSO at Adaptimmune, she has been instrumental in developing autologous and allogeneic T-cell therapies, leading to Tecelra®, the first engineered TCR-T cell therapy for solid tumours to reach the market. As a founding scientist at Adaptimmune, Jo played a critical role in the development of multiple immunotherapies, including lete-cel for sarcoma and uza-cel, now partnered with Galapagos. She has built and led multiple research teams at Adaptimmune and played a significant role in the upscaling from a small biotech to 500+ employees, driving innovation across discovery and translational science. Jo Brewer, PhD, incoming Non-Executive Director at Infinitopes, remarked: "Infinitopes, with its pioneering approach to precision cancer vaccines, driven by its innovative AI/ML-powered Immunomics™ platform, has the potential to revolutionise how we target and treat cancers. The precision and speed that its world-leading clinicians and scientists are advancing its novel immunotherapies is truly impressive, and I look forward to joining the Board at such a critical time of clinical development, to contribute my expertise to bringing these transformative treatments to patients." Jonathan Kwok, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder at Infinitopes, said : "I'm delighted to welcome Dan and Jo to our Board at a pivotal time, as we prepare to begin our first clinical trial for ITOP1, our proof-of-concept cancer vaccine candidate, initially targeting oesophageal cancers. Their leadership and deep expertise in immuno-oncology and biotech growth is invaluable as we advance our AI/ML-driven antigen discovery platform and push the boundaries of what is possible in cancer vaccine development. Their decision to join Infinitopes reflects the strength of our technologies, our ambitious mission, and the future potential impact for patients worldwide." In April 2024 Infinitopes announced its oversubscribed £12.8 million seed financing to advance its AI/ML Precision Immunomics™ bespoke antigen discovery platform. This proprietary technology enables the safe and highly accurate design of 'best-in-class' therapeutics for multiple cancer indications. Guided by an exceptional leadership team and distinguished Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of world-class clinicians, scientists, and regulatory experts, Infinitopes is poised to initiate its vaccine candidate, ITOP1, in a highly anticipated double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled Phase I/IIa clinical trial. This trial is aimed at treating patients with oesophageal cancer and is expected to begin at four UK NHS university cancer centres in the first half of 2025. About Infinitopes Infinitopes Ltd is a soon to be clinical stage, integrated cancer biotechnology company supported by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the University of Oxford. The Company combines two world leading platforms, in precision target discovery and in high efficiency, vector delivery systems, to develop immunologically durable vaccines against multiple solid tumour indications. The lead vaccine candidate is expected to begin Phase I/IIa trials in H1' 25. Infinitopes has gathered together in-house talent across antigen discovery, immunology, vaccinology, oncology, biomanufacturing, clinical trials and regulation, winning an 'Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway' (ILAP) innovation passport from the UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in 2022. Infinitopes has also won two prestigious, maximum size, nondilutive awards from Innovate UK, a Cancer Therapeutics Award (in 2022) and a Future Economy Investor Partnership (in 2023). Since incorporation, the Infinitopes team has raised nearly $20m from sector expert investors including Cancer Research Horizons, Cancer Research Institute, Kindred Capital, Manta Ray Ventures, Martlet, Meltwind, Octopus Ventures, Saras Capital, Wilbe and the Fundación CRIS Contra el Cáncer, funding its rapid growth from three academic co-founders to 28 full time equivalents. It is now the largest tenant of Oxford University's BioEscalator innovation accelerator. 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Adaptimmune is slashing its headcount as part of a broader company restructuring aimed at saving $300 million over the next few years through 2028. The company said it will axe 33% of its employees in the first quarter of next year, according to its third-quarter earnings release Wednesday. Adaptimmune had 449 employees at the end of 2023. It also said it will stop enrollment in a Phase 2 trial of its T cell therapy, uza-cel, in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. “We will reduce our UK footprint and research functions and suspend clinical trial activities with uza-cel for ovarian cancer, which will remove the associated CMC and development costs in the coming years,” CEO Adrian Rawcliffe said on an earnings call. But Rawcliffe added that its work with uza-cel is not yet done as its collaboration with Galapagos in head and neck cancer will not be affected, with plans for a clinical proof-of-concept trial still in place. Nonetheless, these moves reflect Adaptimmune’s mission to “redefine itself as a sarcoma-focused business,” by shifting its resources towards its T cell immunotherapy Teclera and another late-stage sarcoma candidate, lete-cel, the company said. Teclera won an FDA accelerated approval in August for synovial sarcoma. The company plans to start a rolling BLA for lete-cel in advanced or metastatic myxoid/round cell liposarcoma and synovial sarcoma by the end of 2025. The biotech, which has headquarters in Philadelphia and Oxford, UK, believes Teclera and lete-cell could together hit $400 million in peak US sales. As for the rollout of Teclera, the drugmaker is working with so-called “sarcoma centres of excellence” to establish them as authorized treatment centers (ACTs), a process that can take “several months to complete,” according to TD Cowen analysts. So far, nine ACTs have been established, which is at the upper end of Adaptimmune’s guidance of six to ten centers in the first 90 days of launch, Rawcliffe said during the earnings call. “We have an additional four sites that have signed contracts and a further 15 sites that are in active contract negotiations,” he added. Earlier in its pipeline, Adaptimmune is advancing two preclinical candidates: ADP-600 for solid tumors and ADP-520 for hematological malignancies, among other indications. The company said it is currently in “active discussions” with an eye to partnering with these programs.