Crescendo Biologics Limited, the drug discovery and developer of Humabody™ VH therapeutics, has announced the launch of the Company’s new drug development strategy.
The company will have its primary development focus on oncology with novel VH-based checkpoint modulators and HDC (Humabody™ Drug Conjugate) therapeutics. The appointment of Dr Peter Pack as CEO is the first step in this transition.
The Company’s rapidly growing pipeline is based on its Humabody™ VH Technology. Humabodies™ combine the VH format of minimal size with the power of transgenic mouse technology – the gold standard in antibody therapeutics development – which confers the substantial benefits of in vivo maturation. As a result, Humabodies™ have excellent potency and druggability including superior CMC properties for drug development. They are 100% human and represent the smallest possible immunoglobulin fragments offering a range of plug & play options for generating novel multi-specific biologics. Humabodies™ are therefore set to establish a valuable new class of therapeutics.
With Dr Pack’s appointment, Crescendo is now expanding its oncology pipeline by targeting a range of cancer indications where Humabodies™ have the potential to deliver high-value therapeutics to patients where there is substantial unmet need.
Dr Pack has 23 years of corporate experience in the Life Science industry, including 14 years in CEO and Managing Director level positions at product-oriented, international Life Science companies. Further background information is included below.
Graziano Seghezzi, Non-Executive Director of Crescendo Biologics, said: “Crescendo has established a pre-eminent position in its human VH technology and has rapidly transitioned into a drug discovery and development company. Peter’s appointment is the first step of the Company’s new strategy of developing new oncology therapeutics through in-house development and strategic partnerships. The features of our technology – minimal size, in vivo maturation and druggability – are well suited for our plans in the field of oncology.”
He added: “On behalf of the Board, I take this opportunity to thank Dr Mike Romanos for his contribution in creating the strong transgenic technology platform that is now central to Crescendo’s development programmes.”
Rob Woodman, Non-Executive Director of Crescendo Biologics, added: “Under Peter’s leadership, the company is now increasingly focused on developing products for checkpoint modulation – including PD-1 blockade – and on Humabody™ Drug Conjugates (HDCs). HDCs represent a novel class of therapeutics with 2nd generation payloads conjugated to Humabody™ VH fragments resulting in superior pharmacological properties.”
Dr Peter Pack said:“The transition to a product-oriented oncology therapeutics company is a pivotal moment in Crescendo’s corporate development. In my view, Crescendo’s in vivo maturation technology for 100% human VHs with excellent affinities, expression yields and plug & play options is superior to anything that has been done before. It was the main attraction for recommending investment when I was a partner at EMBL Ventures. ”
He added: “We plan to advance the development of new and innovative therapeutics compounds in the area of oncology including immune-oncology, the new primary focus of the work at Crescendo. We intend to expand rapidly our internal oncology programmes on checkpoint modulators and HDCs, which are a novel alternative to Antibody Drug Conjugates.”
Dr Peter Pack
Dr Pack began his career in 1992 in the early days of MorphoSys AG, where he rose to become Director of R&D and co-invented their HuCAL phage display library. After Morphosys’ IPO, Peter co-founded mtm laboratories (now part of Roche) and served as its CEO for nearly ten years, growing the business into a fully integrated cancer diagnostics company with international marketing & sales of its own In Vitro Diagnostics products.
In 2008, Dr Pack joined the medical device company Polytech Ophthalmologie (now Polytech & Domilens Group) as Managing Director. After the sale of Polytech, he joined as Managing Director of LGC Standards in the UK until mid-2012. He was member of the Board of Signature Diagnostics AG from January 2013 until its sale to Roche in February 2015. In addition, Dr Pack was a partner at EMBL Ventures where he led the firm’s investment in Crescendo as part a £19.5m Series A financing in April 2014. He represented EMBL Ventures in Crescendo’s Board as Observer before he joined as CEO.
For more information, please contact:
Crescendo Biologics
Graziano Seghezzi, Non-Executive Director
Dr Peter Pack, CEO
Tel:44 (0)1223 497140
info@crescendobiologics.com
Instinctif Partners
Melanie Toyne-Sewell / Dr Christelle Kerouedan
Tel:44 (0)20 7457 2020
crescendo@instinctif.com
