Cambridge, UK, 11 September 2018 – Crescendo Biologics Ltd (Crescendo), the drug developer of novel, targeted T-cell enhancing therapeutics, today announces that Pavel Pisa, MD, PhD, has been appointed as Chief Medical Officer of the Company with immediate effect.
Pavel Pisa is the former Head of Translational Medicine at Roche and Genentech and has led over 50 programmes through early and late clinical development. As both a physician and a scientist, he has in-depth knowledge of the real-life experimental and clinical challenges associated with delivering highly innovative medicines and has successfully translated scientific findings into transformative medicines such as Avastin and Gazyva, leading to significant improvement in the lives of cancer patients.
Pavel has a distinguished academic, clinical and scientific career at world-leading medical institutions. He was Professor of Clinical Experimental Oncology at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and has held positions at NIH, MD Anderson Cancer Center and Scripps Research Institute. He is the author of 115 highly cited publications and patents within tumour immunology.
Pavel holds a medical degree and a doctorate in medicine in Natural Killer Cells in the Clinic from Charles University, Prague, as well as a PhD in Immunology from the Karolinska Institutet.
Peter Pack, Chief Executive of Crescendo Biologics, said:
“We are delighted to welcome Pavel, a world-class immuno-oncologist, as our Chief Medical Officer. Pavel is the ideal person to drive our lead programme, CD137-PSMA, and our follow-on pipeline of immune modulators through the clinic. He brings with him truly exceptional experience as a clinical developer of oncology biologics, having previously led so many programmes for Roche in the IO field.
This appointment confirms Crescendo’s transition into a leading developer of differentiated, T-cell enhancing therapies.”
Pavel Pisa, Chief Medical Officer, also commented:
“Having worked in cancer immunotherapy as a scientist and clinician for almost four decades, I am excited to be joining Crescendo Biologics. Crescendo’s proprietary technological platform has unique advantages over traditional IgG antibodies, and through its specific binding capabilities, exhibits unprecedented therapeutic potential for modulation of immune responses. I look forward to helping unlock the power of Crescendo’s CD137 and other immune modulating approaches, and to translating Humabody novel modes of action into treatment advances for patients with cancer and other life-threatening conditions.”
For more information, please contact:
Crescendo Biologics
Dr Peter Pack, CEO + 44 (0)1223 497140 [email protected]
For Media:
Instinctif Partners for Crescendo Biologics
Deborah Bell, Dr Christelle Kerouedan, Melanie Toyne-Sewell
+ 44 (0)20 7457 2020
About Crescendo Biologics
Crescendo Biologics is a biopharmaceutical company developing potent, truly differentiated Humabody® therapeutics in oncology with a focus on innovative targeted T-cell approaches.
Leading its proprietary pipeline, Crescendo Biologics has developed CB307, a novel bispecific PSMAtargeted T-cell enhancer for the selective activation of tumour-specific T-cells exclusively within the tumour microenvironment, thereby avoiding systemic toxicity. This highly modular format can be re-configured to create a pipeline of multiple therapeutic candidates each treating a different cancer indication, by targeting any of a range of alternative tumour-specific markers.
The Company’s ability to develop multi-functional Humabody® therapeutics is based on its unique, patent protected, transgenic mouse platform generating 100% human VH domain building blocks (Humabody® VH). These robust molecules can be configured to optimally engage therapeutic targets delivering novel biology and superior bio-distribution. This results in larger therapeutic windows compared to conventional IgG approaches.
Crescendo Biologics is pursuing novel Humabody®-based product opportunities, through in-house development and strategic partnerships, including multi-functional immuno-oncology modulators and Humabody® drug conjugates (HDCs), the next generation of ADCs. Humabody®-based formats can also be applied across a range of non-cancer indications.
Crescendo Biologics is located in Cambridge, UK, and is backed by blue-chip investors including Sofinnova Partners, Andera Partners, IP Group, Takeda Ventures, Quan Capital and Astellas.