CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/
-- TCR2 Therapeutics Inc., an innovative
immunotherapy company developing the next generation of novel T
cell receptor (TCR) therapies for patients suffering from cancer,
today announced the appointment of Andrew
Allen, M.D., Ph.D. to its Board of Directors. An industry
leader with expertise in cancer clinical development, Dr. Allen
co-founded Gritstone Oncology, Inc., (NASDAQ: GRTS) in 2015, and
currently serves as Gritstone's President and Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) and member of its Board of Directors.
Garry Menzel, Ph.D., President
and CEO of TCR2 stated: "We are thrilled to have Andrew
join TCR2's Board of Directors. His wealth of experience
and proven track record of strategic business and clinical
development accomplishments will be invaluable as we continue to
advance our TCR Fusion Construct technology and design our oncology
programs for success in treating cancer patients."
Dr. Allen brings 20 years of experience in the global
pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life science industries. Prior to
Gritstone, Dr. Allen co-founded Clovis Oncology, a public
pharmaceutical development company, and served as its executive
vice president of clinical and preclinical development and chief
medical officer. Previously, he was chief medical officer at
Pharmion Corporation (acquired by Celgene for $2.9B), served in oncology clinical development
leadership roles at Chiron Corporation and Abbott Laboratories, and
worked at McKinsey & Company, where he advised life science
companies on strategic issues. He currently serves on the Boards of
Directors of Epizyme, Inc., and Sierra Oncology, Inc., two public
biopharmaceutical companies, and Revitope Oncology, Inc. (private);
he previously served on the Board of Directors of Cell Design Labs,
a private biotechnology company, from November 2015 until its acquisition by Gilead
Sciences, Inc. in December 2017. Dr.
Allen qualified in medicine at Oxford
University and received a Ph.D. in immunology from Imperial
College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London.
"TCR2 has considerable momentum and I am excited to
be joining the company's Board of Directors. I believe the
Company's TCR Fusion Construct platform has significant potential
to produce transformative medicines, particularly for the many
cancers for which unmet medical needs still exist," said Dr.
Allen.
About TCR2 Therapeutics
TCR2 is
an innovative immunotherapy company developing the next generation
of novel T cell therapies for patients suffering from cancer based
on its T cell receptor (TCR) Fusion Construct platform.
TCR2's proprietary TCR Fusion Construct T cells (TRuC-T
cells) specifically recognize and kill cancer cells by harnessing
the entire TCR signaling complex without the need for HLA-matching.
Based on preclinical studies comparing TCR2's product
candidates to chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells that the
Company engineered, TCR2 believes that its product
candidates have the potential to improve upon the efficacy and
safety of currently approved CAR-T cell therapies in CD19-positive
B-cell hematological malignancies. TCR2 was founded in
2015 by renowned German immunologist Dr. Patrick Baeuerle and now led by a world-class
team of immunotherapy experts and entrepreneurs in the heart of
Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA.
For more information, please visit www.tcr2.com.
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SOURCE TCR2 Therapeutics