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Company News: Pan Cancer T B.V. Appoints Seasoned Entrepreneurs and Executives to its Supervisory Board and Elects its Chairman
– John Tchelingerian, PhD (Chair), Dharminder Singh Chahal and Prof. Dr. Chris Bangma to form Supervisory Board
Pan Cancer T B.V., a biotech company discovering and developing first-in-class T-cell receptor (TCR) T-cell therapy for hard-to-treat solid tumors, today announced the appointment of John Tchelingerian, PhD, as Chairman and of Dharminder Singh Chahal and Prof. Dr. Chris Bangma as members of the Supervisory Board. This marks an important step in the development of the Company and is aligned with its ambitious goals regarding financing, deal-making, and cancer immunotherapy.
Katrien Reynders-Frederix, CEO of Pan Cancer T, said: “I am delighted about the establishment of the Supervisory Board, which will bring significant momentum to Pan Cancer T’s further growth. Dr. John Tchelingerian, a highly experienced and recognized serial entrepreneur, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board brings a wealth of experience regarding biotech start-up and scale-up. Dharminder Singh Chahal has built an impressive portfolio of investments, and Prof. Dr. Chris H. Bangma is a seasoned Professor at Erasmus MC. I am convinced that Pan Cancer T will gain tremendous competitive advantage, strategic guidance and expertise from its Directors.”
Dr. Reno Debets, CSO of Pan Cancer T, stated: “I very much look forward to work with John, our newly installed chair of the Supervisory Board, and Dharminder and Chris, our newly appointed directors. Undoubtedly, they will each bring their unique expertise regarding entrepreneurship, investments and execution. With our novel targets and technological platforms, we will effectively address the current challenges of adoptive T cell therapies. To this end, John, Dharminder and Chris will help us to successfully grow towards mid-stage level. I look forward to our discussions and am confident that with our enthusiastic team and supervisors we will make important progress in improved patient care.”
Dr. John Tchelingerian, appointed Chairman and Director, commented: “I am thrilled to serve as the Chairman of Pan Cancer T’s Supervisory Board, a promising cancer fighting company with a very motivated team and marquee founders and investors. I am convinced that the company will be a game changer enabling the field to move towards efficient treatments for cancer patients suffering from hard-to-treat solid tumors.”
Dharminder Chahal, appointed Director, commented: “When we started Swanbridge Capital, it was our intention to find first-class scientists at Erasmus MC and help them set up leading-edge biotech companies. Pan Cancer T is a good example for this strategy and I am happy I can contribute to the company´s further development.”
Prof. Chris Bangma, appointed Director, commented: “Translating research effectively into independent businesses is of top priority for universities to justify their efforts for innovation, and to guarantee their future role as drivers for the industry. Participating in a supervisory board during one the most important stages of a start-up is a challenging and responsible job. It means more than stimulating and protecting a research idea, it is validating the concept that science serves humanity.”
John Tchelingerian, PhD, is a well-known serial entrepreneur and a veteran of the global biotech industry with a strong track record in capital raising, dealmaking and drug development. John is currently Managing Partner and Chairman of The Connecting Architects, a strategic advisory and pan-European venture building / scaleup platform for innovative companies. He is also Managing Partner of Silver Ocean Ventures, a corporate finance and management services firm. Previous to his latest operational role as CEO at Promethera Biosciences, John co-founded and/or lead several biotech, biopharma, and CRO services companies such as Neurotech, Key-Obs, Diatos, TcLand Expression, Key Neurosciences and Melkin Pharmaceuticals. Under John’s leadership, Promethera became a global leading player in liver diseases with robust capital raisings, acquisitions, international partnerships and an attractive pipeline of cell therapy and antibody products.
Dharminder Chahal is CEO and co-founder of SkylineDx B.V. a company based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, developing diagnostic tests in oncology. He is also owner and Managing Director of Exponential B.V., acting as consultant to Van Herk Investments. Mr. Chahal has built an extensive network in the global life science industry and a strong track record in direct involvement of complex corporate transactions including the sale of the stake of Van Herk Investments in Crucell to Johnson and Johnson, the sale of deVGen to Syngenta and the sale of Ablynx to Sanofi. As a board member or advisor, he has been and still is active for several European companies in the field of life sciences.
Prof. Dr. Chris Bangma is Supervisory Board Director on behalf of Erasmus MC Holding and Director of the Anser Prostate Cancer Network of clinics in the West Netherlands, conducting a healthcare financing project for the Dutch government. He has chaired the department of Urology at Erasmus MC for twenty years, was President of the Dutch Urologic Society (2009-2011), chaired several international research consortia on diagnostics, and is PI of the largest global network on surveillance of prostate cancer. He was supervisor for two biotech companies and initiated clinical oncolytic virus gene therapy for prostate cancer in The Netherlands.
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About Pan Cancer T
Pan Cancer T was founded in late 2020 and span-off from Erasmus MC (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) to advance first-in-class TCR T-cell therapies for hard-to-treat solid tumors. The company’s approach includes three differentiating elements. First, it exploits novel and unique targets for T-cells that are exclusively expressed by multiple solid cancers. Second, it applies innovative technologies to select naturally occurring and highly specific TCRs that are directed against these targets, and thirdly it develops therapies that overcomes the tumor micro-environmental challenges in the targeted cancers. The company has ongoing R&D programs to develop safe and effective adoptive T cell therapies amenable to large cohorts of patients with triple negative breast cancer as well as cancers of the bladder, ovarium, colorectum, prostate, skin, esophagus, lung, or brain. For more information, see www.pancancer-t.com.