TIDMPRTC
PureTech Health PLC
01 October 2019
1 October 2019
PureTech Health plc
PureTech Affiliate Vor Biopharma Appoints Senior Cell and Gene
Therapy Leaders
PureTech Health plc (LSE: PRTC) ("PureTech"), a clinical stage
biotechnology company dedicated to discovering, developing and
commercialising highly differentiated medicines for dysfunctions of
the Brain-Immune-Gut (BIG) axis, is pleased to note that its
affiliate Vor Biopharma has appointed Sadik Kassim, PhD, previously
of Kite Pharma and Novartis, as chief technology officer, and
Tirtha Chakraborty, PhD, previously of Sana Biotechnology and
CRISPR Therapeutics, as vice president of research.
The full text of the announcement from Vor Biopharma is as
follows:
Vor Biopharma Hires Senior Cell and Gene Therapy Leaders as
Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Research
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 1, 2019 - Vor Biopharma, an oncology
company pioneering engineered haematopoietic stem cells (eHSCs) for
the treatment of cancer, today announced senior appointments to its
leadership team. Sadik Kassim, PhD, a cell and gene therapy
bioprocessing and translational research expert, joins Vor from
Kite Pharma as Chief Technology Officer. Tirtha Chakraborty, PhD, a
haematological and gene engineering research specialist with
experience at Sana Biotechnology and CRISPR Therapeutics, joins as
Vice President of Research. These new positions follow Vor's recent
move into an integrated headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., the
appointment of Robert Ang, MBBS, MBA, as President and Chief
Executive Officer and a $42 million Series A financing directed at
developing Vor's platform technology and advancing its pipeline of
eHSC-based candidates.
"Vor is bringing a fundamentally novel approach to
haematopoietic stem cells to empower targeted cancer therapies, and
we are rapidly building an industry-leading team to realize the
value in this scientific foundation," said Dr Ang. "Dr Kassim
brings his substantial experience with the complex methods and
processes that are required for manufacturing
genetically-manipulated cell therapies, and Dr Chakraborty provides
deep expertise in haematology and genetic engineering. Their
complementary knowledge will aid Vor's expansion, platform
development and the move towards our first Investigational New Drug
filing for VOR33."
"I am impressed that compelling in vivo data already supports
the potential of Vor's cellular engineering platform to protect
healthy cells from antigen-directed therapies via antigen removal,"
said Dr Kassim. "This is especially noteworthy when therapeutic
effectiveness is so often highly limited by co-location of target
antigens on healthy immune cells, creating a huge opportunity for
Vor to significantly broaden the applicability of these and future
therapies."
"It's exciting to join the Vor team during this period of
accelerated expansion," said Dr Chakraborty. "As a geneticist and
cell biologist, I look forward to developing this new approach to
treat a range of devastating cancers, beginning with VOR33 in acute
myeloid leukaemia."
Dr Kassim is a former Executive Director at Kite Pharma where he
led the development of manufacturing processes for autologous CAR-
and TCR-based gene-modified cell therapies. Prior to Kite, he
served as Chief Scientific Officer at Mustang Bio, where he was the
first employee and oversaw the foundational build-out of the
company's preclinical and manufacturing activities. Prior to
Mustang, Dr Kassim was Head of Early Analytical Development for
Novartis' Cell and Gene Therapies Unit, where he contributed to the
BLA and MAA filings for Kymriah(R). Earlier in his career, Dr
Kassim was a research biologist at the National Cancer Institute,
where he was involved in early research and CMC work that led to
the development of several first-in-human TCR and CAR-T products,
including Kite's Yescarta(R). Dr Kassim has also conducted
preclinical immunology research at Janssen and was a research
fellow in the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program,
where he led the initial discovery and preclinical studies for an
AAV8 gene therapy for familial hypercholesterolaemia, a program
that is now in the clinic. Dr Kassim earned his BS in Cell and
Molecular Biology from Tulane University and received his PhD in
Microbiology and Immunology from Louisiana State University.
Dr Chakraborty joins Vor from Sana Biotechnology, where he
served as the Vice President of Cell Therapy Research. Prior to
Sana, Dr Chakraborty was the Head of Haematology at CRISPR
Therapeutics, where his team's work on haemoglobin disorders paved
the way for the first clinical trial for the CRISPR industry.
Before that, at Moderna Therapeutics, Dr Chakraborty led synthetic
mRNA platform technology research. He was trained as an RNA
biologist and an immunologist during his postdoctoral research at
Harvard Medical School. Dr Chakraborty received his PhD from the
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India.
About VOR33
Vor's lead engineered haematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) product
candidate, VOR33, is in development for acute myeloid leukaemia
(AML). VOR33 is designed to produce healthy cells that lack the
receptor CD33, thus enabling the targeting of AML cells through the
CD33 antigen, while avoiding toxicity to the bone marrow.
Currently, targeted therapies for AML and other liquid tumours can
be limited by on-target toxicity. By rendering healthy cells
"invisible" to CD33-targeted therapies, VOR33 aims to significantly
improve the therapeutic window, utility and effectiveness of these
AML therapies, with the potential to broaden clinical benefit to
different patient populations.
About Vor Biopharma
Vor Biopharma aims to transform the lives of cancer patients by
pioneering engineered hematopoietic stem cell (eHSC) therapies.
Vor's eHSCs are designed to generate healthy, fully functional
cells with specific advantageous modifications, protecting healthy
cells from the toxic effects of antigen-targeted therapies, while
leaving tumour cells vulnerable.
Vor's platform could potentially be used to change the treatment
paradigm of both hematopoietic stem cell transplants and
antigen-targeted therapies, such as antibody drug conjugates,
bispecific antibodies and CAR-T cell treatments. A proof-of-concept
study for Vor's lead program has been published in Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences.
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. Vor was
founded by Dr Mukherjee and PureTech Health and is supported by
leading investors including 5AM Ventures and RA Capital Management,
Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Inc. (JJDC), Novartis
Institutes for BioMedical Research and Osage University
Partners.
About PureTech Health
PureTech is a clinical stage biotechnology 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 affiliates, is comprised of 24 product
candidates and one product that has 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 Tom Donovan
+1 617 651 3156 +44 (0) 20 3727 1000 +1 857 559 3397
amt@puretechhealth.com ben.atwell@FTIconsulting.com tom@tenbridgecommunications.com
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END
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