Northern Biologics, Inc.

Avacta Group plc Avacta Announces the Appointment of Darlene Deptula-Hicks as Non-Executive Director of the Board of Directors London, England; July 8, 2024; Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted cancer treatments and powerful diagnostics, today announced the appointment of Darlene Deptula-Hicks, MBA as a Non-Executive Director of the Company’s Board of Directors, effective 26 June 2024. Ms. Deptula-Hicks is a highly accomplished financial executive with decades of experience working with and advising private and public life sciences companies. Shaun Chilton, Chairman of the Board of Avacta, commented: “Avacta is at a pivotal time in its evolution, intensifying its focus on advancing our pre|CISION™ technology through clinical development. As we do so, it’s critical that the Avacta Board has the right commercial, financial and operational experience to support this. We look forward to working with Darlene in developing our capital market strategy and potential partnerships.” Christina Coughlin MD, PhD, CEO of Avacta, added:“As our clinical progress continues to gain momentum, we have evolved the Avacta Board to provide more robust commercial and market focus. Darlene brings many years’ experience that will provide invaluable support as we progress our platform.” Ms. Deptula-Hicks is the interim CFO at Normunity, and prior to that served as CFO of F-star Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FSTX), which she took public in 2020 and successfully sold in 2023. Previously, she held the role of CFO at Northern Biologics and T2 Biosystems (NASDAQ:TTOO). She also served as SVP and CFO of Pieris Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:PIRS) which she also took public. Ms. Deptula-Hicks currently sits on the Board of Directors of Abcuro and Aerami Therapeutics, providing strategic financial and business direction. Ms. Deptula-Hicks received her M.B.A. from Rivier University and B.S. in Accounting from Southern New Hampshire University. Darlene Deptula-Hicks MBA, Non-Executive Director of Avacta, commented: “It’s an exciting time to be joining the Board of Avacta as the Company expands the clinical development of its therapeutic business and prepares to release a pipeline of innovative new medicines. I look forward to working with the Board and management, bringing my global market experience and contributing to the Company’s strategy and success.” About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com Avacta Group is a UK-based life sciences company focused on improving healthcare outcomes through targeted cancer treatments and diagnostics. Avacta Therapeutics: a clinical stage oncology biotech division harnessing proprietary therapeutic platforms to develop novel, highly targeted cancer drugs. Avacta Diagnostics focuses on supporting healthcare professionals and broadening access to diagnostics. Avacta has two proprietary platforms, pre|CISION™ and Affimer®. The pre|CISION™ platform is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast activation protein (FAP) which is upregulated in most solid tumours compared with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION™ platform harnesses this tumour specific protease to activate pre|CISION™ peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION™ antibody/Affimer® drug conjugates in the tumour microenvironment, reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be optimised to deliver the best outcomes for patients. The lead pre|CISION™ programme AVA6000, a peptide drug conjugate form of doxorubicin, is in Phase 1 studies. It has shown an improvement in safety and tolerability in clinical trials to date compared with standard doxorubicin and preliminary signs of clinical activity in multiple patients. To register for news alerts by email go to www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts. For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact: Avacta Group plcChristina Coughlin, CEO Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial OfficerMichael Vinegrad, Group Communications Directorwww.avacta.com Peel Hunt (Nomad and Broker)James Steel / Chris Golden / Patrick Birkholmwww.peelhunt.comICR Consilium Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / Sukaina Virjiavacta@consilium-comms.com

The San Diego-based VedaBio is launching with $40 million, backed by lead investor OMX Ventures alongside Kleinmuntz Associates and a group of family offices. It’s been clear for years that CRISPR would have significant utility outside of simple genome editing. With enzymes capable of finding and snipping specific strips of genetic code, it has only been a few steps away from emitting a signal upon discovering its target, to deliver a diagnostic result. Now a new company aims to push the technology closer to its theoretical limits. VedaBio has emerged from stealth to pitch a CRISPR platform that has the ability to detect an array of chosen molecules at once without sacrificing accuracy, while keeping the sample at room temperature and completing its task in less than a minute. “With the CRISPR Cascade reaction, we have unlocked the true power of CRISPR with a platform that delivers near-instant molecular detection of highly multiplexed analytes with best-in-class accuracy, all without the need for target amplification,” VedaBio cofounder and CEO Anurup Ganguli said in a statement.  “We believe it is poised to emerge as a future gold standard for molecular detection, empowering major advances across multiple applications including research and industrial tools, diagnostics and therapeutics,” added Ganguli, who previously developed research platforms at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the lab of VedaBio’s other co-founder, Rashid Bashir, professor of bioengineering and dean of the Grainger College of Engineering. To chase its goals, the San Diego-based company is launching with $40 million in the bank, with funding backed by lead investor OMX Ventures, Kleinmuntz Associates and a group of family offices.  The CRISPR Cascade method relies on multiple Cas enzymes, instead of the pre-amplification steps used to copy a particular genetic target that is integral to PCR-based tests. These multiple enzymes trigger a series of chemical reactions that form their own positive feedback loop when a target is present and release a detectable fluorescent signal. VedaBio has also tapped Frédéric Sweeney, venture partner at OMX, to serve as board director, president and chief operating officer. Previously Sweeney held executive roles at MeMed Diagnostics, bioMérieux, Versant Ventures, Northern Biologics and T2 Biosystems. Christine Ginocchio, Ph.D., will serve as chief medical and scientific officer, after holding the same position at Quotient, and senior VP of global medical affairs at bioMerieux and BioFire. 

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Solu Therapeutics, a precision-medicine company developing therapeutics to eliminate disease-driving cells, today announced the appointment of Philip J. Vickers, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Vickers succeeds David Donabedian, Ph.D., Co-founder and start-up CEO of Solu Therapeutics, and Executive Partner of Longwood Fund, who will continue to serve in an advisory capacity to the Company. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: Solu Therapeutics Appoints Philip Vickers, Ph.D., as President and Chief Executive Officer (Photo: Business Wire) Dr. Vickers brings to Solu more than 30 years of experience in the biopharma industry. As CEO, he will play an instrumental role in the company’s work to eliminate cells that drive disease in areas of high unmet medical need through the continued development of Solu’s proprietary CyTaC (Cytotoxicity Targeting Chimera) platform, including their lead program in oncology, which is projected to enter the clinic within two years. “Solu’s CyTaC platform and focus on unlocking antibody-intractable cell surface targets present an exciting opportunity to make a significant impact for patients living with devastating diseases,” said Dr. Vickers. “Solu is building a new generation of medicines that combine the strengths of biologics and small molecules to advance the way we treat cancer and immune-mediated illnesses. I am thrilled to be leading this dedicated team.” Dr. Vickers started his career as a Senior Biologist at Merck Research Laboratories. He went on to spend more than 13 years at Pfizer, ending his time there as Vice President, Research. Following his time at Pfizer, Phil was recruited to Boehringer-Ingelheim, where he served as SVP and US Head of Research before joining Resolvyx Pharmaceuticals as Chief Scientific Officer. After Resolvyx, Dr. Vickers was Global Head of Research and Development at Shire Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for overseeing preclinical research and development, clinical development, regulatory affairs, program management, and medical affairs. For his next role, he was President and CEO of Northern Biologics, a company focused on the development of monoclonal antibodies as immuno-oncology therapeutics to treat targeted populations of cancer patients. Dr. Vickers most recently served as President and CEO of Faze Medicines. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto. Dr. Vickers is currently a member of the board of AVROBIO. “When we founded Solu Therapeutics, we knew having an experienced and committed CEO would be essential to building out the team, advancing our lead program in oncology, and driving several of our other product candidates through pre-clinical development,” said Dr. Christoph Westphal, M.D., Ph.D., founding Executive Chair, Solu Therapeutics and Founding Partner of Longwood Fund. “Dr. Vickers’ work supporting the approval of numerous drugs and his deep knowledge of novel therapeutics and clinical development make him the ideal choice to do so. I have the utmost confidence in his ability to advance Solu’s science and lead the team.” “On behalf of the entire board, I would like to thank David for his significant contributions as co-founder and start-up CEO to Solu Therapeutics,” continued Dr. Westphal, “Under David’s leadership, the Company raised an oversubscribed $31 million seed round, attracted a top tier syndicate of investors, identified lab space and built out the scientific and leadership team. I look forward to working with David on our next Longwood new company.” Solu recently debuted with an oversubscribed $31 million seed financing co-led by Longwood and Santé Ventures, with additional participation from DCVC Bio, Astellas Venture Management, and Alexandria Venture Investments. About Solu Therapeutics Solu Therapeutics, a precision-medicine company, is developing therapeutics to eliminate disease-driving cells in cancer, immunology, and autoimmunity. The proprietary CyTaC (Cytotoxicity Targeting Chimera) platform and drug candidates, licensed from GSK, unlocks antibody-intractable cell surface targets providing the capability to develop next generation medicines that harness the power of biologics with the vast target binding space of small molecules. Unique characteristics of CyTaC platform molecules include: (i) unlocking new tumor-associated antigens to eliminate cancer cells, (ii) depleting pathogenic immune cells, and (iii) extending the half-life of small molecule antagonists and agonists.