TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
13 July 2020
14 July 2020
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Founded Entity Vor Biopharma Appoints Dr Christopher
Slapak as Chief Medical Officer
PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech" or the "Company"), a
clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated to discovering,
developing and commercialising highly differentiated medicines for
devastating diseases, is pleased to note that its Founded Entity,
Vor Biopharma, today announced it has appointed Christopher Slapak,
MD, as chief medical officer. Dr Slapak has more than 20 years of
leadership experience in oncology drug development and previously
led global clinical development for all early-stage oncology
compounds for Eli Lilly and Company.
The full text of the announcement from Vor is as follows:
Vor Biopharma Appoints Dr Christopher Slapak as Chief Medical
Officer
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., - July 14, 2020 - Vor Biopharma , an oncology
company pioneering engineered haematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for
the treatment of cancer, today announced it has appointed
Christopher Slapak, MD, as chief medical officer. Dr Slapak has
more than 20 years of leadership experience in oncology drug
development and previously led global clinical development for all
early-stage oncology compounds for Eli Lilly and Company.
"As Vor rapidly advances to become a clinical-stage company, it
is wonderful for Christopher to commit to this full-time role
leading the development of our oncology therapeutics," said Robert
Ang, MBBS, MBA, Vor's president and chief executive officer.
Dr Slapak has served as Vor's interim chief medical officer
since July 2019 as part of his work as an independent consultant
advising on scientific and medical aspects of oncology drug
development. For more than 20 years, he held leadership roles at
Eli Lilly and Company, including positions as distinguished Lilly
scholar and vice president, early phase research. He oversaw the
global clinical development of all early-stage oncology compounds
for Lilly and ImClone (which was acquired by Lilly in 2008),
including the successful early-stage development of abemaciclib
(Verzenio(R) ).
Dr Slapak received his medical degree from the University of
Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, where he also completed his
residency in internal medicine. After fellowship training in
haematology and oncology at Tufts/New England Medical Center, Dr
Slapak was appointed instructor and then assistant professor of
medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical
School. He is board certified in internal medicine, medical
oncology and haematology and currently has a joint appointment as
clinical associate professor of medicine and pharmacology at the
Indiana University School of Medicine.
"Vor's approach to engineering haematopoietic stem cells that
are invulnerable to targeted therapies is a major innovation in
stem cell transplantation," Dr Slapak said. "Acute myeloid
leukaemia, a cancer of the bone marrow and our lead indication,
constitutes a major unmet medical need - more than 20,000 people in
the US are diagnosed annually and less than 30% survive five years
after diagnosis. By rendering healthy blood and bone marrow cells
invisible to CD33-targeted therapies, we hope to provide long-term
remissions for these patients, ultimately improving and prolonging
life."
About Vor Biopharma
Vor Biopharma aims to transform the lives of cancer patients by
pioneering engineered haematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies. By
removing biologically redundant proteins from eHSCs, these cells
become inherently invulnerable to complementary targeted therapies
while tumour cells are left susceptible, thereby unleashing the
potential of targeted therapies to benefit cancer patients in
need.
Vor's platform could be used to potentially change the treatment
paradigm of both haematopoietic stem cell transplants and targeted
therapies, such as antibody drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies
and CAR-T cell treatments.
Vor is based in Cambridge, Mass. and has a broad intellectual
property base, including in-licenses from Columbia University,
where foundational work was conducted by inventor and Vor
Scientific Board Chair Siddhartha Mukherjee, MD, DPhil.
About VOR33
Vor's lead product candidate, VOR33, consists of engineered
haematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) that lack the protein CD33. Once
these cells are transplanted into a cancer patient, we believe that
CD33 will become a far more cancer-specific target, potentially
avoiding toxicity to the normal blood and bone marrow associated
with CD33-targeted therapies. Vor aims to improve the therapeutic
window and effectiveness of CD33-targeted therapies, thereby
potentially broadening the clinical benefit to patients suffering
from acute myeloid leukaemia.
About PureTech Health
PureTech is a clinical-stage biotherapeutics company dedicated
to discovering, developing and commercialising highly
differentiated medicines for devastating diseases, including
intractable cancers, lymphatic and gastrointestinal diseases,
central nervous system disorders and inflammatory and immunological
diseases, among others. The Company has created a broad and deep
pipeline through the expertise of its experienced research and
development team and its extensive network of scientists,
clinicians and industry leaders. This pipeline, which is being
advanced both internally and through PureTech's Founded Entities,
is comprised of 24 products and product candidates, including two
that have been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). All of the underlying programmes and platforms that resulted
in this pipeline of product candidates were initially identified or
discovered and then advanced by the PureTech team through key
validation points based on the Company's unique insights into the
biology of the brain, immune and gut, or BIG, systems and the
interface between those systems, referred to as the BIG Axis.
For more information, visit www.puretechhealth.com or connect
with us on Twitter @puretechh.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains statements that are or may be
forward-looking statements, including statements that relate to the
company's future prospects, developments, and strategies. The
forward looking statements are based on current expectations and
are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results, performance and achievements to differ
materially from current expectations, including, but not limited
to, those risks and uncertainties described in the risk factors
included in the regulatory filings for PureTech Health plc. These
forward-looking statements are based on assumptions regarding the
present and future business strategies of the company and the
environment in which it will operate in the future. Each
forward-looking statement speaks only as at the date of this press
release. Except as required by law and regulatory requirements,
neither the company nor any other party intends to update or revise
these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Contact:
Investors EU media US media
Allison Mead Talbot Ben Atwell, Rob Winder Stephanie Simon
+1 617 651 3156 +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 +1 617 581 9333
amt@puretechhealth.com ben.atwell@FTIconsulting.com stephanie@tenbridgecommunications.com
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END
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 14, 2020 08:04 ET (12:04 GMT)
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