Flagship Pioneering Appoints John Lepore as CEO-Partner and CEO of ProFound Therapeutics

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, and ProFound™ Therapeutics, a company pioneering the discovery of a vastly expanded human proteome and using its newfound insights to unlock a universe of potential new medicines, today announced that John Lepore, M.D., will join Flagship Pioneering as CEO-Partner, and ProFound as Chief Executive Officer, effective October 16, 2023.

Dr. Lepore joins ProFound after 17 years at GSK where he had extensive experience leading large international R&D organizations across diverse therapeutic areas. Most recently he was Senior Vice President, Head of Research, leading a large group of scientists and physicians focused on combining the science of immunology, human genetics and genomics with advanced technologies to identify novel drug targets, discover new therapeutic modalities, and demonstrate proof of mechanism in clinical studies. The work from his group has led to multiple IND filings and transition of multiple novel medicines into clinical development. Before joining GSK, John was on the faculty of the Cardiovascular Medicine Division of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and he was an attending physician on the academic cardiology service.

"John's two decades of success driving novel programs from discovery to validation to the clinic will be an excellent addition to both ProFound and to Flagship's ecosystem," said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering and Co-Founder and Strategic Oversight Board Chairman of ProFound Therapeutics. "John's expertise navigating the discovery and development of new medicines will be essential as ProFound pioneers the expanded proteome to create therapeutics that would not have been previously possible."

"We've made significant advances with our ProFoundry™ Platform, which is a wellspring of first-in-class therapeutic opportunities," said Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D., Flagship Pioneering General Partner and Founding CEO of ProFound Therapeutics. "At this crucial stage in the company's growth, we're thrilled to welcome John to the team and look forward to leveraging his leadership experience and successful R&D track record as we reveal a universe of novel therapeutic targets and develop an initial pipeline of new medicines."

"I'm honored to join the outstanding team at Flagship Pioneering and to have the opportunity to lead the talented team at ProFound who are redefining what we know about human biology with the ProFoundry Platform," said John Lepore, M.D., CEO of ProFound Therapeutics and Flagship Pioneering CEO-Partner. "The identification of a whole new world of previously unknown proteins has enabled the exciting opportunity for ProFound to develop many new classes of drug targets across diverse therapeutic indications."  

About John Lepore, M.D.
John Lepore, M.D. was most recently Senior Vice President, Head of Research at GSK where he led a large organization of scientists and physicians focused on leveraging the science of immunology, human genetics and genomics, and advanced technologies to identify novel drug targets, discover new therapeutic molecules, and demonstrate proof of mechanism in clinical studies. 

Dr. Lepore joined GSK in 2006 and has held roles of increasing responsibility including VP of Clinical Pharmacology and Discovery Medicine, VP and Head of the Heart Failure Discovery Performance Unit, SVP and Head of the Metabolic Pathways and Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area Unit, and SVP R&D Pipeline responsible for end-to-end R&D activities across multiple therapeutic areas. He was also Interim Head of Business Development and played a key role in multiple preclinical and clinical deals to augment the GSK pipeline.

Before joining GSK, Dr. Lepore was on the faculty of the Cardiovascular Medicine Division of the Department of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where his lab investigated the transcriptional regulation of cardiovascular development and he was attending physician on the academic cardiology service. 

Dr. Lepore received his B.S. in Biology from the University of Scranton and his medical degree from Harvard Medical School where he was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholar. He subsequently trained in internal medicine and cardiology and served as Medical Chief Resident at Massachusetts General Hospital, with post-doctoral training at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Dr. Lepore has been on the Board of Directors of ViiV Healthcare, the Altius Institute, and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the Scientific Advisory Boards of Medicxi Ventures and Hatteras Ventures, and the Innovation Growth Board of Mass General Brigham. At GSK, he chaired the Research Review Board and Research Investment Board responsible for capital allocation and project prioritization.

About ProFound™ Therapeutics
ProFound Therapeutics is pioneering the discovery of a vastly expanded human proteome and using its newfound insights to unlock a universe of potential new medicines. The company's ProFoundry Platform uses state-of-the-art protein detection technologies to systematically identify and validate proteins and dissect their therapeutic potential. The result is an ever-expanding database of tens of thousands of novel proteins, including their connectivity, functionality, and roles in health and disease. ProFound Therapeutics was founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2020. For more information, please visit www.profoundtx.com.

About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering is a biotechnology company that invents and builds platform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $90 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $3.4 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $26 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 44 companies, including Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Generate:Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo Agriculture, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB) and Tessera Therapeutics. For more information on Flagship, please visit www.flagshippioneering.com.

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SOURCE Flagship Pioneering