Dr. Gallagher, current President of R&D at Syndax Pharmaceuticals and former Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at AbbVie, brings significant experience of end-to-end development that has resulted in the approval of multiple innovative medicines

BASEL, Switzerland – 14th May 2024 - Nouscom, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing off-the-shelf and personalized viral vector-based cancer vaccines targeting neoantigens, announces today that Neil Gallagher, MD, PhD, has been appointed as an Independent Advisor to Nouscom’s Board of Directors and will also Chair the Company’s R&D Committee.

Dr. Gallagher’s leadership will be essential in guiding Nouscom’s clinical development strategy and activities as it advances its wholly owned clinical pipeline through multiple clinical proof of concept readouts.

Dr. Gallagher has over 20 years of experience within large, global pharmaceutical R&D organizations and emerging biopharmaceutical companies. Throughout his career, he has led end-to-end drug development programs that have resulted in the approval of multiple innovative medicines, ranging from small molecules to biologics across several therapeutic areas, including oncology and immunology.

Since April 2023, he has served as President of R&D at Syndax Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage oncology company developing targeted first-in-class cancer therapies. Prior to this, he led multiple development programs through approval globally and oversaw asset strategy and portfolio management across several therapeutic areas as Chief Medical Officer and Head of Development at AbbVie. Other roles include Head of Global Oncology Development at AbbVie, Head of Development for Oncology and Inflammation at Amgen, and Global Program Head at Novartis Oncology. He has also held clinical development roles at AstraZeneca and Astex Therapeutics.

Before entering the industry, Dr. Gallagher received his medical degree from Trinity College, Dublin, and completed his Fellowship in Gynaecological Oncology at the Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, UK.

Dr. Marina Udier, Chief Executive Officer of Nouscom, commented, “We are thrilled to welcome Neil as Independent Advisor to our Board and Chair of our R&D Committee. His extensive experience and leadership in clinical drug development and registration will provide invaluable insights that will allow us to further accelerate progress across our clinical portfolio of neoantigen-based cancer vaccines, including an ongoing randomized Phase 2 trial of NOUS-209 in MSI colorectal cancer.”

Dr. Goran Ando, Independent Chair of Nouscom’s Board, said, “Together with the experience of our existing Board Members, I look forward to Neil’s contributions as Nouscom reports multiple clinical trial readouts and navigates the next exciting steps in its growth.”

Dr. Neil Gallagher added, “I am truly excited to be working with Nouscom’s Board and management and look forward to sharing my knowledge and expertise to guide and support the development of its clinical pipeline. Nouscom’s dedication to generating safe, innovative, and potent next-generation cancer immunotherapies that selectively eliminate tumor cells and pre-cancerous lesions could be potentially life-changing for patients and I look forward to helping the Company achieve this.”

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About Nouscom

Nouscom is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing next-generation, off-the-shelf and personalized cancer immunotherapies. Nouscom’s proprietary viral vector platform has the capacity to encode for large payloads of neoantigens or other immunomodulators and clinically demonstrated to safely and potently harness the power of the immune system.

Nouscom is currently advancing the clinical development of its wholly owned programs:

• NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapy for the treatment of MSI solid tumors in combination with pembrolizumab in randomized Phase 2 trials.
• NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf monotherapy in Lynch Syndrome carriers with the potential to ‘intercept cancer’ before it occurs. A Phase 1b is being conducted under a clinical trial collaboration and supply agreement signed in 2022 with the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
• NOUS-PEV, a personalized cancer immunotherapy, is expected to enter randomized Phase 2 trials in indications with high unmet medical need in 2024.

Nouscom has also exclusively out-licensed VAC-85135, an off-the-shelf immunotherapy developed under a multi-project agreement, which is currently under evaluation in a Phase 1 trial for the treatment of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms sponsored by Janssen Research & Development and Bristol Myers Squibb.

For more information on Nouscom, please visit the company’s website at www.nouscom.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

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