News
PsiOxus Therapeutics Appoints Dr Paolo Paoletti as Chairman of the Board
OXFORD, UK – 7 January 2016 – PsiOxus Therapeutics Ltd. (“PsiOxus”),the immuno-oncology company, has appointed Dr Paolo Paoletti, MD as Chairman of the Board. Dr Paoletti was most recently the President of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Oncology, a global role in which he championed the fight against the causes and impacts of cancer. In this role, he was responsible for R&D, commercial strategy, and lifecycle management, and shared the accountability of GSK Oncology’s P&L with its regional commercial leaders. Prior to joining GSK, Dr Paoletti was Vice President, Clinical Development for Lilly Oncology. Under Dr Paoletti’s leadership, the oncology business for GSK grew from $200 million to almost $2 billion in less than a decade. In recognition of the value generated by Dr Paoletti and his team, GSK sold its oncology business to Novartis for $16 billion in 2014. Oncology products that received major approvals under Dr Paoletti’s leadership whilst at GSK included: Arranon/Atriance (2006), Tykerb/Tyverb (2007), Promacta/Revolade (2008), Arzerra (2009), Votrient (2009), Tafinlar (2013) and Mekinist (2013). Commenting on the appointment, Dr John Beadle, CEO of PsiOxus, said: “We are honoured to have Dr Paoletti stepping into the Chairman’s role at this critical time for PsiOxus. I am certain that his proven experience in oncology drug development together with his ability to inspire and lead a growing oncology focused business will be invaluable as we move enadenotucirev, our lead oncolytic viral program, into mid-stage clinical studies and as we accelerate our next generation oncology platform and programs towards the clinic.” Dr Paoletti added: “I have been impressed by the potential of the PsiOxus platform to generate a range of highly novel and exciting immuno-oncology products. I look forward to working with the Board and the Executive Team to build a dynamic and valuable company whilst delivering an important range of new cancer treatments for patients.” Dr Beadle also thanked Dr Michael Moore, the founding Chairman for PsiOxus, for his important contribution and on-going commitment to PsiOxus: “Dr Moore has been of invaluable support to both me and the Board of PsiOxus. I am delighted that he will remain on the Board as Deputy Chairman to provide continuity as well as his unique insight into our business.” In addition to his role at PsiOxus, Dr Paoletti is also a member of the boards of Genmab A/S, FORMA Therapeutics and Nucana BioMed as well as being the CEO of Kesios Therapeutics.
About PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd.
PsiOxus Therapeutics is an Oxford, UK-based development stage biotechnology company with a particular focus on immune therapeutics in oncology. PsiOxus has developed a patented platform for tumour-targeted delivery based on its oncolytic vaccine, enadenotucirev. Enadenotucirev’s unique design allows it to be delivered systemically via intravenous administration. The anti-cancer scope of enadenotucirev can be expanded through “arming” – a process that involves addition of new genes into enadenotucirev. The "Armed EnAd" platform makes possible creation of a broad range of uniqueoncolytic immune therapeutics, including oncolytic vaccines that express one or more antibodies (AbEnAd), cytokines or other immunomodulatory proteins, or nucleotide based payloads such as RNAi. The Armed EnAd platform is in preclinical stage, while phase I/II clinical trials are ongoing with the parent unarmed EnAd in different tumour types.
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