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ImmunOs Therapeutics Appoints Michael A. Curran, PhD, as Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board
– Renowned immunology expert from MD Anderson Cancer Center to lead seasoned group of scientific advisors
ImmunOs Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its HLA-based technology platform to develop first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that Michael A. Curran, PhD, has been appointed Chairman of the Company´s Scientific Advisory Board. In addition to Dr. Curran, Taha Merghoub, PhD, Ulf Petrausch, MD, and Paul Bowness, MD, PhD, currently serve as Scientific Advisors to ImmunOs.
Dr. Curran is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and co-founder of the Oncology Research for Biologics and Immunotherapy Translation (ORBIT) platform, which coordinates the development and production of clinical immunotherapeutic antibodies. He received a Ph.D. in Immunology from Stanford University, where he was awarded the McDevitt Prize for the best graduate thesis in his year and was the first recipient of the prestigious American Cancer Society Levy Fellowship to fund his post-doctoral studies in the lab of Dr. James P. Allison at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
“We are proud to have Mike Curran chair our Scientific Advisory Board to support the development of our pipeline programs in both immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases,” said Sean R. Smith, Chief Executive Officer at ImmunOs. “Mike is well-recognized in the field of immunotherapy and his early work describing how targeting checkpoints of immune cell activation by a combination of checkpoint inhibitors greatly improves response rates resulted in one of the first FDA-approved immunotherapies.”
“I am excited to help ImmunOs advance their first-in-class therapeutics, including the lead oncology program, IOS-1002, which targets multiple myeloid checkpoints,” said Dr. Curran. “This is a truly novel immunotherapy approach based on multi-specific HLA proteins, which have the potential to modulate the entire immune system and have led to promising treatment options for both cancer and autoimmune diseases.”
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About ImmunOs Therapeutics AG
ImmunOs Therapeutics AG leverages its HLA-based technology platform to develop first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The Company has identified specific HLA molecules known to activate the immune system and is utilizing these HLA molecules as the backbone of novel therapies capable of stimulating both the innate and the adaptive immune systems of cancer patients to eliminate tumor cells. ImmunOs’ lead program is a multi-functional fusion protein that blocks specific LILRB (leukocyte immunoglobulin-like) and KIR (killer cell immunoglobulin-like) receptors and activates anti-tumor responses. ImmunOs is also developing antibodies to block the activation of specific HLA protein molecules associated with autoimmune diseases. The Company is supported by leading international investors including Samsara BioCapital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Gimv, Pfizer Ventures, BioMed Partners, Schroder Adveq, Mission BioCapital, GL Capital, PEAK6, and Fiscus. ImmunOs is located in Schlieren, Switzerland, and Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
For more information, please visit www.immunostherapeutics.com