Exacis Biotherapeutics Announces Key Additions To Company's Scientific Advisory Board

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Exacis Biotherapeutics, Inc., a development-stage immuno-oncology company working to harness the immune system to cure cancer, today announced the addition of three oncology and cell therapy experts to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB): Pamela Munster, MD; Caron Jacobson, MD, MMSc; and Evren Alici, MD, PhD.  

Dr. Munster is a Professor in the Department of Medicine (Hematology/Oncology) at the University of Calfornia San Francisco (UCSF) where she specializes in first-in-human clinical trials as the Early Phase Clinical Trials Unit Director. She is also the Co-leader of the Center for BRCA Research, and Co-Leader, Molecular Oncology Program, UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Munster has extensive experience consulting with biotechnology companies to develop oncology treatments and joins the SAB to assist Exacis in developing products aimed at treating solid tumors, including breast malignancies.

Dr. Jacobson is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is the Medical Director of the Immune Effector Cell Therapy Program at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. She has a clinical and research focus in hematologic malignancies, including leukemia and lymphoma. Dr. Jacobson has extensive experience with cell therapy development and use and joins the SAB to assist Exacis in developing products aimed at treating hematologic malignancies.

Dr. Alici is a leading authority on NK cell biology and development and is the Head of the Cell and Gene Therapy Group in the Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine at the Karolinska Institute, Huddinge, Sweden, and founding CEO of Vycellix, Inc. He has published extensively on NK cells and joins the SAB to advise Exacis on specific NK cell subtypes / phenotypes and assessment of NK cell activity in the tumor microenvironment.

Exacis CEO Gregory Fiore, MD, commented, " We are humbled to have the opportunity to work with such committed scientists and physicians as Pam, Caron and Evren. They represent the next generation of thinking in immunotherapy and NK cell science and their expertise and input will be critical as we develop our next generation NK cells and move into complex therapeutic scenarios. We share the same goals to develop products that harness the immune system and improve patient outcomes and experiences."

"Exacis' scientific platform and approach stand out in a sea of cell therapy companies because their iPSCs are generated and engineered using only mRNA which allows a high degree of flexibility and produces cells that avoid long term safety risks which is a major concern when choosing a treatment", said Pamela Munster, MD.

Caron Jacobson, MD MMSc stated, "I am looking forward to working with the Exacis team and SAB to determine the best ways to leverage their powerful technology platform to produce safe and effective treatment for the patients I see every day. We share the same goals to improve both the outcomes and experiences of patients faced with challenging malignancies".

Evren Alici MD PhD added, "Exacis' ability to perform precise genome editing with their RiboSlice™ / NoveSlice™ technology as well as potential to direct differentiation using mRNA encoding critical growth factors and proteins holds the promise to generate cells for very specific therapeutic applications. I am excited to discuss developing collaborative strategies to assess future generations of effective and safe therapies."

About Exacis Biotherapeutics
Exacis is a development stage immuno-oncology company focused on harnessing the human immune system to cure cancer by engineering next generation off-the-shelf NK and T cell therapies aimed at hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Exacis was founded in 2020 with an exclusive global license to a broad suite of patents covering the use of mRNA based cell reprogramming and gene editing technologies for use in generating engineered NK and T cells for oncology applications. These patents were developed and are owned by Factor Bioscience.

Exacis' approach avoids the use of DNA and viruses and instead uses a proprietary mRNA based technology. Exacis uses the technology to generate iPSCs and to edit their genome to create stealthed, performance enhanced allogeneic NK and T cell products, termed ExaNK™, ExaCAR-NK™ and ExaCAR-T™ cells.

About T and Natural Killer (NK) Cell Therapies
T and NK cells are types of human immune cells that are able to recognize and destroy cancer cells and can be modified through genetic engineering to target specific tumors.

SOURCE Exacis Biotherapeutics, Inc.