ImmunoMet Appoints Briggs W. Morrison, M.D., and Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., to Board of Directors

HOUSTON, Nov. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmunoMet Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company focused on utilizing cellular metabolism to develop novel anti-tumor and immuno-oncology therapies, today announced the appointment of Briggs W. Morrison, M.D., and Paul Lammers, M.D., M.Sc., to its Board of Directors.

Sung-Wuk Kim, Chairman of the ImmunoMet Board of Directors, said, "We are delighted to welcome Dr. Morrison and Dr. Lammers to the company's Board of Directors.  Their extensive pharmaceutical industry and oncology clinical development experience will be valuable to ImmunoMet.  We look forward to their contributions at a pivotal time for the company as our lead compound IM156 recently began a Phase 1 clinical study."

Dr. Morrison currently serves as the CEO and is a member of the board of directors of Syndax Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Dr. Morrison also currently serves as a managing director of MPM Capital, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm. Prior to joining Syndax and MPM Capital, he served as Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Chief Medical Officer at AstraZeneca plc, from January 2012 to June 2015, leading the company's global, late-stage development organization and serving as a member of the AstraZeneca senior executive team. He previously held a number of positions at Pfizer Inc., from 2007 to January 2012, that culminated in his appointment as Head, Medical Affairs, Safety and Regulatory Affairs for Pfizer's human health business, and he also served in roles of increasing responsibility at Merck Research Laboratories, a division of Merck & Co., Inc., from 1995 to 2007, ascending to the role of Vice President, Clinical Sciences, Oncology, responsible for clinical development of all novel anti-cancer drugs. Dr. Morrison was chairman of the board of TransCelerate BioPharma Inc., an industry-funded company charged with improving aspects of clinical trials, from 2014 to 2015, a member of the executive committee of the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI) sponsored by FDA, and is on the board of ACRES (Alliance for Clinical Research Excellence and Safety) and Oncorus, Inc. Dr. Morrison received a B.S. in biology from Georgetown University and an M.D. from the University of Connecticut.  

Dr. Paul Lammers currently serves as an independent biotech consultant and Scientific Advisor to life sciences companies. In August 2017, he successfully completed a reverse merger of Mirna Therapeutics, the company he served as Director, President, and CEO since 2009, with Synlogic of Cambridge, MA. During his tenure at Mirna Therapeutics, Dr. Lammers raised approximately $160 million in funding, from Federal and State grants (including CPRIT, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute from Texas), traditional and strategic venture firms, and by bringing the company public on the Nasdaq Capital Market.  In 2009, Dr. Lammers served as President of Repros Therapeutics, The Woodlands, Texas. Prior to Repros Therapeutics, he served six years as Chief Medical Officer and Head of US Product Development for EMD Serono Inc., a subsidiary of German Pharmaceutical company, Merck KgA. Over his 20 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, Dr. Lammers held different executive and senior management positions in clinical development, medical affairs, and regulatory affairs at both medium and large pharmaceutical companies, and small private and public biotech companies. He began his pharmaceutical career at Organon in the Netherlands, and is a former member of the Board of the New England Healthcare Institute (NEHI) and former Chairman of the Board of BioSymposia, an accredited provider of continuing medical education (CME) programs for medical scientists and healthcare professionals. Dr. Lammers received his Medical Degree and Masters of Science degree from the Catholic University in Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

About the company's lead product, IM156

IM156 is an orally administered small molecule from the biguanide class, and it is a potent oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) inhibitor. IM156 is particularly promising in that it has the potential to treat not only drug resistant cancers, but also cancers with molecular signatures of sensitivity to OXPHOS inhibition. Resistant tumor cells are very sensitive to OXPHOS inhibition due to transformation to mitochondrial OXPHOS from glycolysis. IM156 has shown strong in-vitro and in-vivo efficacy in a number of cancers, including glioblastoma (GBM). The company initiated its Phase 1 clinical study for IM156 in September 2017.

About ImmunoMet Therapeutics

ImmunoMet Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company, is dedicated to developing innovative oncology products to improve the quality of life and make a meaningful difference in the lives of cancer patients. The company, a spinoff of HanAll, a Korean biopharma company, was founded in 2015 and is headquartered at JLABS in Houston. In addition to its lead program, IM156, ImmunoMet has an immuno-oncology program, IM188, in late stage lead optimization targeting immune suppressor cells to enhance the response of current immunotherapies. For more information about the company, please visit www.immunomet.com.

Contact

Joseph T. Schepers, [email protected]

SOURCE ImmunoMet Therapeutics

Related Links

http://www.immunomet.com