Triarm Therapeutics Ltd.

Industry veteran Doug Williams is back with a new approach to CAR-T cell therapies that he expects to take into the clinic in the US by year’s end. After a brief stint at Sana Biotechnology , leaving his R&D chief post in the spring, Williams is returning to the role of CEO at a little-known biotech. In recent weeks, he took the top spot at China-born and now California-headquartered biotech TriArm Therapeutics . It’s a position he held at Codiak BioSciences , a startup that tried turning exosomes into medicines, but the relatively nascent idea couldn’t survive on the public markets in 2023. Now, he’s driving TriArm’s mission to “democratize” CAR-T cell therapies using what it calls a “fast-in-time” (FIT) and non-viral manufacturing process, Williams told Endpoints News . He said TriArm’s technology platform has led to a two-day manufacturing process. “There’s also some potential advantages to cell fitness, the actual fitness of the CAR, the composition of cells that we’re reinfusing back into the patient,” Williams said. “We’re preserving a population of cells using this FIT process that may end up being more fit from a biologic perspective because they’re enriched in STEM and naïve T cells,” he added. TriArm has been relatively quiet since launching in 2019. Its financial backers include Panacea Venture , MSD Capital and Lombard Odier , and it employs about 100 people across Shanghai, Taipei and San Mateo, CA. The company aims to speed up the testing of CAR-T therapies and make faster go/no-go R&D decisions by employing an investigator-initiated model in China and then moving into clinical studies in the US, Williams said. “As somebody that is a drug developer by choice and by training, to be able to get a glimpse of what is arguably real data in a population of patients as sort of a preamble to filing an IND and really moving ahead in larger, much more expensive trials, it’s a fantastic setup to have available,” Williams said. Its first US-based trial, testing a CD19-directed autologous therapy, is slated to start later this year, Williams said. A gene therapy could soon enter a similar patient setting with the emergence this week of a new biotech called Vironexis . — Kyle LaHucik → Biogen ’s board continues to evolve under chair Caroline Dorsa , who replaced Stelios Papadopoulos last year. On Jan. 1, ex- AstraZeneca BioPharmaceuticals R&D chief Mene Pangalos will take a seat on the board, and Lloyd Minor — the dean of Stanford University’s School of Medicine — will become a board member much earlier on Oct. 1. After the hubbub surrounding the departure of board member Alex Denner and the appointment of his romantic partner Susan Langer in June 2023, Biogen then elected ex- 3M president and CFO Monish Patolawala to the board in November. Richard Mulligan and William Jones also left the board last year. Pangalos retired from AstraZeneca in April and was replaced by Sharon Barr . → Vir Biotechnology ’s revamp took the spotlight in early August, as CEO Marianne De Backer made the decision to prop up its hepatitis B and D development and wind down its Covid-19, flu and T cell-based viral vector programs. On Wednesday, Vir said that Jason O’Byrne will succeed Sung Lee as CFO on Oct. 2. O’Byrne had the same title at Caribou Biosciences since February 2021 and is the former SVP of finance at Audentes Therapeutics . He spent 13 years with Genentech in a number of roles, including head of commercial finance for the Asia-Pacific region. To accommodate the makeover, Vir laid off about a quarter of its staff. → BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics has selected Yong Ben as chief medical and development officer. Readers may know Ben from BeiGene , where he was CMO, solid tumors from 2019-22, and he’s been a venture partner at Eight Roads for the past two years. Ben was the global clinical leader of immuno-oncology clinical development at AstraZeneca when Imfinzi received its first approval for advanced bladder cancer in May 2017, and a week later, he became CMO of BioAtla . BridgeBio’s oncology spinout debuted in May with a $200 million infusion from Cormorant Asset Management , Omega Funds , GV and others. → As Endpoints News reported on Monday, Eli Lilly ended a three-month search by promoting Lucas Montarce to CFO. He replaces current Alphabet finance chief Anat Ashkenazi , with an interim stint by controller Gordon Brooks sandwiched in between. Montarce’s career at Lilly began in 2001 and has held enough positions to scroll through ever since. He was elevated to president and general manager for the Spain, Portugal and Greece hub in February after nearly three years as group VP, corporate controller and chief financial officer for Lilly Research Laboratories . He takes over as CFO at a time when the Indianapolis pharma’s market cap has exceeded $800 billion. → Pfizer CSO Mikael Dolsten has nabbed a spot on the board of directors at Rocket Pharmaceuticals . Dolsten announced in July that he would leave Pfizer after 15 years, but he’s sticking around until the company finds a successor. In late June, questions about manufacturing resulted in a CRL for marnetegragene autotemcel ( marne-cel ), Rocket’s gene therapy to treat an ultra-rare disease called severe leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I. → Meg Alexander has been promoted to president and COO of Ovid Therapeutics , which is on the verge of starting a Phase 2 study of its Graviton -partnered ROCK2 inhibitor in cerebral cavernous malformations. This is Alexander’s third appearance in as many years after she was named chief strategy officer last year and corporate affairs chief in 2022. “Her extensive experience, operational expertise, and business acumen position her well to lead the next phase of the company’s evolution,” Ovid CEO Jeremy Levin said in a statement . → Sana Biotechnology finance chief Nate Hardy will resign “for personal reasons” on Oct. 4, according to an SEC filing . Hardy was on the finance team at Juno Therapeutics with CEO Steve Harr before he took the CFO job at Sana in 2018. The Seattle-based biotech just hired UCB ’s Dhaval Patel as its CSO. → After five years on the job, Forge Biologics CEO Tim Miller is stepping down , making way for commercial chief John Maslowski to take over Oct. 1. Maslowski initially joined Forge as chief commercial officer in June 2021. Before that, he was president and CEO of Castle Creek Biosciences and Fibrocell Science . → Matt Shaulis is headed to BeiGene as general manager of North America on Sept. 25, while Josh Neiman — the chief commercial officer for North America and Europe — has stepped down “to pursue a new entrepreneurial opportunity at a healthcare technology startup,” according to a release . For the last year and a half, Shaulis has been chief commercial officer and US president for Swedish drug developer Hansa Biopharma , and he took on the role of president, inflammation and immunology for the international developed markets at Pfizer from 2018-21. At the end of his seven-year tenure with the pharma giant, he was elevated to SVP for global commercial and medical go-to-market model transformation. → Jeff Hartness has been named chief commercial officer at I&I biotech Apogee Therapeutics , which hit the Nasdaq with Sagimet Biosciences on July 14, 2023. Hartness spent more than 15 years with Sanofi before jumping to Bausch Health in 2016 as VP, strategic account management. Last year, he was promoted to EVP and head of Bausch Health’s market access, commercial operations, policy and government affairs teams, while serving as general manager of the neurology portfolio and generics businesses. Chaired by ex- Prometheus Biosciences chief and current Mirador Therapeutics CEO Mark McKenna , Apogee is trying to distinguish itself in the atopic dermatitis space with its monoclonal antibody APG777 . → The team at non-opioid pain biotech Latigo Biotherapeutics is quickly taking shape under new CEO Nima Farzan , who succeeded Westlake Village BioPartners ’ Desmond Padhi in late July. After bringing in medical chief Neil Singla last month, Latigo has tapped William Blair analyst Tim Lugo as CFO. Lugo joined William Blair as a senior associate in 2005 and would eventually become a partner, leading the biotechnology equity research team. Latigo also added Westlake managing director Beth Seidenberg and Foresite Capital ’s Jim Tananbaum to the board of directors. → Now that Rytelo ( imetelstat ) is being sold in the US for lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes with transfusion dependent anemia, Geron Corporation has recruited Jim Ziegler as chief commercial officer. Ziegler had been EVP, commercial for Iovance , which secured the long-awaited FDA approval of its TIL therapy Amtagvi for melanoma in February. He also spent a decade in two separate stints with Gilead , culminating in his role as VP of the cardiopulmonary and inflammation business unit. → Alan List is retiring as CMO of Precision BioSciences , and 12-year Merck vet Murray Abramson has jumped on board to lead clinical development. Abramson left Merck in 2011 to become VP of global clinical operations at Biogen, a position he held for nine years. From 2020-22, Abramson was SVP of clinical innovation for Tempus . Precision also said in a release that ex- Aligos Therapeutics EVP John Fry will be a strategic clinical advisor for its hepatitis B program. Following his resignation as president and CEO of Moffitt Cancer Center over his connections to China, List reemerged as Precision’s medical chief in 2021. → Rami Daoud has made his way to gene therapy developer Affinia Therapeutics as chief business and financial officer. Daoud comes off a yearlong stint as president of GeneScience Pharmaceuticals USA and was a corporate development exec with Amarin . Rick Modi ’s crew was an Endpoints 11 winner in 2021 and had IPO aspirations that ultimately faded in late 2022. → HC Bioscience has recruited Simon Tsang to replace Christine Foster as CBO. Tsang is an Amgen corporate development alum who was VP, business development for Tesaro from 2016-19. After GSK bought Tesaro for $5.1 billion, he landed at Pivotal bioVenture Partners as an operating partner. HC Bioscience is in a small-but-emerging group of biotechs working on tRNA-based drugs, along with Flagship ’s Alltrna and Tevard Biosciences . → Rivus Pharmaceuticals , which claimed a Phase 2a win last month with its drug for obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, has appointed Tom O’Neil as CFO and ex- ProfoundBio COO/CFO Erin Lavelle to the board of directors. As finance chief, O’Neil helped lead Satsuma Therapeutics to its IPO in 2019 and its sale to Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories last year. Lavelle orchestrated ProfoundBio ’s $112 million Series B in February, and Genmab would agree to buy the ADC biotech less than two months later. She also picked up another board seat this week at Aviceda Therapeutics. → We have an impressive lineup of CMO appointments: First, Eli Lilly’s obesity and metabolic disease partner HAYA Therapeutics has named Jordan Shin as CMO. Shin had been SVP of clinical development and translational science (cardiology) for gene therapy player Lexeo Therapeutics , which went public last November with a $100 million IPO. Earlier, he worked for Renovacor as SVP of clinical development and translational science until it was sold to Rocket Pharmaceuticals . Up to $1 billion is on the line with HAYA and Lilly’s recent drug discovery pact . → Canadian psychedelic biotech Reunion Neuroscience has brought in Mark Pollack as medical chief. Pollack briefly worked for Sage as SVP for global medical affairs and was part of a leadership shakeup that also involved the departures of CSO Al Robichaud and development chief Jim Doherty . Reunion went private last summer with the help of MPM BioImpact , and a $103 million Series A followed in May from MPM, Novo Holdings and several other investors. → A week after Reunion’s Series A financing, San Diego upstart Aardvark Therapeutics raised $85 million in a Series C to bankroll late-stage trials for its Prader-Willi syndrome asset ARD-101 . And like Reunion, Aardvark has found a new medical chief. Manasi Sinha Jaiman was promoted to the same position at stem cell therapy maker ViaCyte before it was sold to Vertex in 2022 for $320 million , and she would stay at Vertex as a VP. In the same release, Aardvark included the appointment of regulatory affairs leader Tom Bicsak , who came on board in July. → Milan-based AAVantgarde Bio is picking up Jayashree Sahni as CMO. Sahni is taking over the reins from Naveed Shams , who had served in the role since 2022. Sahni joins the team from Novartis , where she was senior global program clinical lead. Earlier in her career, Sahni was with Roche , where she worked on the Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials for Vabysmo . → Elsewhere, RA Capital -backed Tyra Biosciences has recruited Doug Warner as CMO. Warner joins the California-based crew from eFFECTOR Therapeutics , where he served in the same role. Previously, Warner had an 18-year stint at Amgen, where he led development of drugs like Vectibix , Xgeva and Prolia . Warner’s appointment comes after Tyra picked up $200 million in PIPE financing in February to progress its oral FGFR3-selective inhibitor, TYRA-300 . → Longwood ’s Solu Therapeutics , which debuted in August 2023 with a $31 million seed round, has welcomed Sergio Santillana as CMO. Peer Review told you about Santillana’s resignation from the same position at Ikena Oncology in February, and he’s also the ex-CMO at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and Ariad Pharmaceuticals . Earlier in his career, Santillana had a string of roles at Eli Lilly, GSK and Takeda . → Maud Brandely is retiring after eight years as CMO of French cancer biotech Transgene , and Sanofi Genzyme vet Emmanuelle Dochy has replaced her . Dochy just completed a seven-year run at Bayer , where she recently served as VP of global medical affairs for the tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) oncology franchise and scientific partnerships head. Meanwhile, Transgene has also enlisted Roche oncology alum Maurizio Ceppi as CSO. → KalVista Pharmaceuticals has named Brian Piekos as CFO. Far from his first run as finance chief, Piekos served in the role at Elicio Therapeutics , Gemini Therapeutics and AMAG Pharmaceuticals . In May, KalVista announced that it was dropping its preclinical program in hereditary angioedema in favor of focusing on its HAE pill sebetralstat . At the time, KalVista said it would find a partner for its dropped program. → Beverley Carr has taken the CBO post at London-based Charm Therapeutics , a startup co-founded by the University of Washington’s David Baker that uses its 3D deep learning tech DragonFold to discover new drugs. Carr is a GSK business development vet who had been chief business and operating officer for Amphista Therapeutics and then stepped into the role of interim CEO when Nicki Thompson left. → In July, Cue Biopharma announced that it was prioritizing its autoimmune pipeline and slashing 25% of its staff. Now, J&J vet Lucinda Warren has joined the Boston team as CBO. Warren’s 10-year stint at J&J culminated in her role as VP of business development for neuroscience and Japan regionally. Earlier in her career, Warren was with Janssen Cilag Australia and Centocor / Janssen Biologics . → Verily , the healthcare company spun out of Google parent Alphabet , has rolled out the welcome mat for Michael Radwin as its new head of data science and AI. Radwin joins from the CDC, where he was a founding member of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology. Radwin’s résumé also includes roles at Intuit and Yahoo . Earlier in June, Verily announced that it was jumping into the GLP-1 business with the launch of a new virtual program to help patients manage cardiometabolic diseases with care teams and medications. → Dutch biotech VarmX , which is developing a reversal agent for blood thinners, has promoted Martijn Negen to the role of COO. Negen joined VarmX last September as SVP of global commercial strategy & business development from AM-Pharma . He also has experience from Portola Pharmaceuticals , Teva Global Specialty Medicines and Genentech. → Opthea has announced a slew of changes to its leadership team. First, the company is losing commercial chief Judy Robertson , CFO Peter Lang and SVP, global clinical operations Bruno Gagnon , effective Sept. 9. Filling in for Lang and Robertson in the interim will be Danforth Advisors managing director Daniel Geffken and Genentech and Novartis vet Mike Campbell , respectively. Meanwhile, Jen Watts will succeed Gagnon. That’s not all: Opthea is also picking up Dayong Li as SVP, biometrics and Anthony Bonifazio as VP, market access. → UK respiratory disease biotech Enterprise Therapeutics has introduced Annabella Amatulli as head of regulatory affairs. The Janssen vet was the global regulatory sciences leader for Alfasigma , the Italian company that bought Ocaliva maker Intercept Pharmaceuticals . → Tonix Pharmaceuticals has brought aboard Thomas Englese as EVP of commercial operations. Englese was formerly chief commercial officer of Tris Pharmaceuticals and Aziyo Biologics . Before that, he had an 11-year run with Mallinckrodt , culminating in his role as SVP and general manager of North America hospital therapies. → A handful of VCs have been making some moves. First up: Abingworth has turned to SFJ Pharmaceuticals founder and executive chair Robert DeBenedetto to tackle the role of managing director, clinical co-development; Sofinnova Partners has added a new partner. Karl Naegler just completed a four-year run as managing partner with Wellington Partners Life Sciences in June; and finally, Frazier Healthcare Partners has named Willis Chandler as an executive-in-residence on the growth buyout team. Chandler left Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen ) in June after nearly three years as president of global pharma services and six years overall. → Co-founded by Jim Wilson , Passage Bio has elected Ultragenyx CBO Tom Kassberg to the board of directors. One of Wilson’s new companies, GEMMA Biotherapeutics , licensed a trio of gene therapy candidates from Passage Bio in early August. → Enoch Kariuki has joined the board of directors at Cyrus Mozayeni ’s ADC shop Pheon Therapeutics , which is chaired by ex- Blueprint Medicines chief Jeff Albers . Kariuki became president of Endeavor BioMedicines this year and ran Lengo Therapeutics until it was purchased by Blueprint in 2021. → Yoshiharu Mizui now has a seat on the board of directors at SEED Therapeutics , the biotech near Philadelphia that struck a “molecular glue” deal with Eisai last month. Mizui is the president of Eisai’s VC arm, Eisai Innovation , and he also juggles two other roles as head of collaboration & incubation in the DHBL (Deep Human Biology Learning) office and head of academic & industry alliance. → Creyon Bio has made room for DCVC Bio operating partner Serge Messerlian and Lux Capital principal Shaq Vayda on the board of directors. Messerlian has board seats at Auron Therapeutics and Plexium , and Vayda’s numerous board credits include Atavistik Bio and Enveda Biosciences .

In 2021, Bivision Pharmaceuticals (hereinafter referred to as "Bivision") was co-founded by Dr.Haihua Yu, Dr.Yu Wang and other two biotech veterans. Dr.Haihua Yu worked in GSK for more than 10 years in new drug research and development, and later joined Huayi Technology to take charge of Molecular Imaging and Drug Research Institute; Dr.Yu Wang has been engaged in small molecule nuclear drugs and other targeted coupling drug research and development for more than 20 years in Endocyte (which has been acquired by Novartis) and Eli Lilly and other international well-known pharmaceutical companies, and has experience in new drug research and development of several NDA and IND in the United States. This round of financing will be used to accelerate the preclinical development of multiple innovative nuclear drugs and carry out Clinical phase 1 studies of the fastest pipeline, and upgrade the nuclear drug research and development platform to further consolidate its leading position in the field of targeted nuclear drugs. 01 Dr.Haihua Yu, co-founder and CEO of Bivision, said: "This time by GaoRong Capital, VI Ventures and other international well-known venture capital institutions a new round of investment, but also by the old shareholders continue to trust and support, in the" capital winter "environment is not only the recognition and affirmation of the Bivision team and projects, but also for the visual diagnosis and treatment of integrated targeted nuclear drugs field. Visual diagnosis and treatment integrated targeted nuclear drugs through the use of PET/CT and other equipment can not only achieve systemic dynamic, non-invasive early visual diagnosis and rating, but also achieve the evaluation of therapeutic effect; At the same time, targeted radiotherapies (TRT) fully combine the advantages of targeted drugs and physical rays, and solve the current clinical pain points from the aspects of drug dosage, safety and overcoming drug resistance, providing a new drug choice for patients at home and abroad.” 02 Dr. Jingyi Liu of GaoRong Capital, said: "As a new type of differentiated treatment worldwide, targeted nuclear drugs have a very broad market prospect. As an emerging field, the development ideas and screening evaluation of targeted nuclear drugs are quite different from those of traditional drugs, facing more problems and challenges, and higher technical barriers. The founding team of Bivision Biological comes from the industry's star enterprises Endocyte/Novartis, Siemens, GSK, Huayi, etc., and has the research and development experience of international listed nuclear drugs. I believe that the team can make full use of the advantages of the technology platform, accelerate the development process of product pipeline, and bring new hope to the global patients as soon as possible." 03 Guangwei Yu, Executive President of KaiTai Capital, said: "The co-founding team of Bivision has the global first-line level of targeted nuclide drug research and development experience, from the pre-clinical targeting ligand screening, coupling technology application, radiopharmaceutics optimization, thermochemical CMC and other whole process development experience, while using its own multi-functional coupling technology platform (J-Linker), It provides a strong and favorable innovation source and competitive advantage for the later research and development of Crystal karyotes." 04 Wenzhe Zhou from VI Ventures said: "Therapeutic targeted nuclear drugs is a high threshold, high access field, is still a relatively new track, from the number of drugs have been listed at home and abroad, this field is still a blue ocean, with great market prospects. The new field means new challenges, and I believe that the team of Bivision has the strength to stand out from this field and become a global leader in this field." About Bivision: Founded in 2021, Bivision is an innovative biotech company committed to develop the next generation of targeted radionuclide therapy (TRT). Bivision was founded by a group of biotech veterans who have extensive experience and track record in the field of targeted radionuclide therapy. Their hands-on experience and vision to develop new radiopharmaceuticals build up a solid foundation for Bivision to plan and execute its TRT drug discovery and development projects. Since its inception, the key proprietary technology platforms for nuclear drug development were built in the aspect of ligand screening, linker conjugation (J-Linker technology) and clinical transformation. The synchronous development and effective integration of these platforms are the core driving force for the rapid advancement of the product pipeline. The company's first drug candidate is currently under clinical development. About GaoRong Capital GaoRong Capital focuses on early stage and growth stage investment, focusing on new consumption, new technology, healthcare and other innovative and entrepreneurial fields. In the medical and health field, it invests in excellent enterprises in the fields of digital health, medical services, new drug research and development, medical devices and testing; In the field of new technology, GaoRong is deeply engaged in new technology fields such as artificial intelligence, intelligent hardware, robots, chips, enterprise services and industrial upgrading; In the field of new consumption, we continue to look for opportunities in the fields of "new e-commerce", "new retail", "new brand", "new entertainment" and "new infrastructure". Up to now, GaoRong has invested in more than 200 companies at home and abroad, 20+ companies have gone public, and 30+ unicorns have been valued at more than $1 billion. About KaiTai Capital KaiTai Capital is an innovative capital management institution that focuses on investments in biomedicine and life sciences, artificial intelligence and digital technology, data intelligence and technology consumption. In the field of biomedicine and life science, with a global vision, forward-looking industry research and industrial ecological investment concept, KaiTai Capital has invested in more than 100 domestic and foreign biomedicine and life science enterprises, and initially formed an industrial cooperation ecology. It has formed an ecological investment portfolio in the fields of tumor, autoimmune disease, metabolic disease, anti-infection, respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, neuroscience, kidney disease, ophthalmology, skin, gene therapy and cell medicine, pharmaceutical industry, innovative biotechnology and large health industry. About YiJing Capital YiJing Capital founded in 2015 and headquartered in Shanghai, is a professional investment institution focusing on global medical health, frontier technology and new consumer fields, and operates parent fund investment in the above fields. The company adheres to the concept of "helping enterprises innovate and grow, promoting industrial optimization and upgrading, and promoting social development and progress". So far, the management scale has reached 8 billion yuan, and there are 8 recognized unicorn enterprises in the industry. In the investment projects of YiJing Capital, many enterprises have developed into influential leading enterprises in their respective segments. In the medical and health fields, including HanYu Medical, Our United Corp., OPM Biosciencesi, Medsci, Wellem, etc.; New consumption areas include Tasogare, Zhiketong and so on. About VI Ventures VI Ventures focuses on domestic and overseas companies with entrepreneurial enthusiasm and leading technology, providing seed, start-up and growth stage funding. It mainly invests in biomedicine, medical device and biotech and TMT sectors, with investments in China, the United States and Israel. It aims to help foreign companies in its portfolio access the booming Chinese market, while building Bridges for domestic companies to expand their business overseas. Angel Round incubation or early stage portfolios include: Hifibio, Viracta Therapeutics, Rani Therapeutics, Aadi biosciences, Tongee Medical, Human Metabolomics, Freshwind Biotech, Platelet Biogenesis, HocerMed, Apexigen, Tyligand Bioscience, TriArm, ACXEL, etc.