PENNINGTON, N.J. and
SAN DIEGO, Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- OncoSec Medical
Incorporated (NASDAQ:ONCS) (the "Company" or "OncoSec") today
announced the appointment of Bridget
O'Keeffe, Ph.D., a biotech industry veteran with more than
15 years of experience, as Vice President of Clinical Development
effective February 18, 2021.
"It is with great pleasure that we welcome Dr. O'Keeffe to
OncoSec in her new role during a critical time of growth for the
company," said Sandra Aung, Ph.D.,
Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Development Officer. "At
OncoSec, our mission is to bring safe and effective therapeutic
options to patients who need it most. Having had the opportunity of
previously working closely with Dr. O'Keeffe at Nektar
Therapeutics, where she assumed a variety of leadership positions,
I am confident her contributions will help propel our collective
vision of delivering the next wave of paradigm-shifting therapeutic
solutions for our patients."
Dr. O'Keeffe most recently served as Senior Director of Clinical
Development for Nektar Therapeutics, where she built and trained an
oncology clinical science team and provided clinical development
leadership in the development of company processes and policy
through interdepartmental, company-wide committees, working groups
and initiatives. During her time with the company, Dr. O'Keeffe was
also appointed Clinical Development Lead of the global Phase 3
randomized study for NKTR-214 (bempegaldesleukin) +
OPDIVO® (nivolumab) in patients with renal cell
carcinoma (RCC), for which she managed and led medical science
strategy, Steering Committee and key opinion leader interactions,
health authority/ethics committee responses, team training and
clinical oversight of data collection and review.
Prior to Nektar, Dr. O'Keeffe held additional clinical
development positions of increasing responsibility at Exelixis,
Genentech, Clovis Oncology, Achaogen, and Calithera. In these
roles, Dr. O'Keeffe served as medical monitor for multiple oncology
studies in RCC, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and
triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC); provided scientific and
medical expertise in the launch preparation for Rubraca®
(rucaparib); participated on the clinical filing team for the new
drug application (NDA) for ZEMDRI (plazomicin); and contributed to
the early development of CABOMETYX® (cabozantinib). Dr.
O'Keeffe earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular and Cell
Biology at the University of California,
Berkeley and her Bachelor of Arts in Biology and Asian
Studies at Case Western Reserve
University.
As of February 18, 2021, Dr.
O'Keeffe will be granted an initial grant of 35,000 stock options.
These stock options will have an exercise price equal to the
closing price of the Company's common stock on the date of grant
and will be 25% vested on the date of grant, with the remaining 75%
vesting quarterly over a two-year period. These stock options were
granted as an inducement to Dr. O'Keeffe entering into employment
with the Company in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule
5635(c)(4).
About TAVO™
OncoSec's gene therapy technology
combines TAVOTM (tavokinogene telseplasmid), a DNA plasmid-based
interleukin-12 (IL-12), with an intra-tumoral electroporation gene
delivery platform to achieve endogenous IL-12 production in the
tumor microenvironment that enables the immune system to target and
attack tumors throughout the body. TAVO has demonstrated a local
and systemic anti-tumor response in several clinical trials,
including the pivotal Phase 2b trial
KEYNOTE-695 for metastatic melanoma and the KEYNOTE-890 Phase 2
trial in triple negative breast cancer (TNBC). TAVO™ has
received both Orphan Drug and Fast-Track Designation by the
U.S. Food & Drug Administration for the treatment of
metastatic melanoma.
About OncoSec Medical Incorporated
OncoSec Medical
Incorporated (the "Company," "OncoSec," "we" or "our") is a
late-stage biotechnology company focused on developing
cytokine-based intratumoral immunotherapies to stimulate the body's
immune system to target and attack cancer. OncoSec's lead
immunotherapy investigational product candidate – TAVO™
(tavokinogene telseplasmid) – enables the intratumoral delivery of
DNA-based interleukin-12 (IL-12), a naturally occurring protein
with immune-stimulating functions. The technology, which employs
electroporation, is designed to produce a controlled, localized
expression of IL-12 in the tumor microenvironment, enabling the
immune system to target and attack tumors throughout the body.
OncoSec has built a deep and diverse clinical pipeline utilizing
TAVO™ as a potential treatment for multiple cancer indications
either as a monotherapy or in combination with leading checkpoint
inhibitors; with the latter potentially enabling OncoSec to address
a great unmet medical need in oncology: anti-PD-1 non-responders.
Results from recently completed clinical studies of TAVO™ have
demonstrated a local immune response, and subsequently, a systemic
effect as either a monotherapy or combination treatment approach
along with an acceptable safety profile, warranting further
development. In addition to TAVO™, OncoSec is identifying and
developing new DNA-encoded therapeutic candidates and tumor
indications for use with its new Visceral Lesion Applicator (VLA),
to target deep visceral lesions, such as liver, lung or pancreatic
lesions. For more information, please visit
www.oncosec.com.
TAVO™ is a trademark of OncoSec Medical Incorporated.
KEYTRUDA® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme
Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc.
Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements
This
release, as well as other information provided from time to time by
the Company or its employees, may contain forward-looking
statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those
anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
statements provide the Company's current beliefs, expectations and
intentions regarding future events and involve risks, uncertainties
(some of which are beyond the Company's control) and assumptions.
For those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor
for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify forward-looking
statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to
historical or current facts. These statements may include words
such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect,"
"intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "should," "will" and "would"
and similar expressions (including the negative of these terms).
Although we believe that expectations reflected in the forward-
looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future
results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. The
Company intends these forward-looking statements to speak only at
the time they are published on or as otherwise specified and does
not undertake to update or revise these statements as more
information becomes available, except as required under federal
securities laws and the rules and regulations of the Securities
Exchange Commission ("SEC"). In particular, you should be
aware that the success and timing of our clinical trials, including
safety and efficacy of our product candidates, patient accrual,
unexpected or expected safety events, the impact of COVID-19 on the
supply of our candidates or the initiation or completion of
clinical trials and the usability of data generated from our trials
may differ and may not meet our estimated timelines. Please refer
to the risk factors and other cautionary statements provided in the
Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
July 31, 2020 and subsequent periodic
and current reports filed with the SEC (each of which can be found
at the SEC's website www.sec.gov), as well as other factors
described from time to time in the Company's filings with the
SEC.
Company Contact
Kim
Jaffe
Assistant Vice President, Business Development &
Operations
+1- 609-306-7042
kjaffe@oncosec.com
Media Contact
Patrick
Bursey
LifeSci Communications
+1-646-970-4688
pbursey@lifescicomms.com
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SOURCE OncoSec Medical Incorporated