ImmVira Appoints Howard L. Kaufman, M.D. as Consulting Medical Advisor

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Aug 22, 2023, 22:51 ET

SHENZHEN, China, Aug. 22, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmVira announced to appoint Dr. Howard L. Kaufman as Consulting Medical Advisor. Dr. Kaufman's expertise in scientific research and clinical development, especially in the areas of oncolytic virus and immunotherapy, will greatly enhance ImmVira's research and development capabilities.

Dr. Kaufman is a leading authority on tumor immunotherapy and oncolytic virus. He led the successful Phase III trial of Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), the first oncolytic virotherapy approved by FDA. He also led the pivotal clinical trial of anti-PD-L1 mAb Avelumab, the first drug approved by FDA for the treatment of Merkel cell carcinoma. His industry experience includes roles as President and Chief Executive Officer at Ankyra Therapeutics, Chief Medical Officer at Compass Therapeutics and Replimune, Inc. (U.S. listed oncolytic virus company), and Head of Research and Development at Immuneering Corporation. Prior to joining the industry, Dr. Kaufman had an exemplary academic career as Associate Director of Herbert Irving Cancer Center at Columbia University in New York City, Associate Dean and Cancer Center Director at Rush University in Chicago, and a tenured Professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Dr. Kaufman has maintained a funded laboratory in tumor immunology for over 20 years and has published over 500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, books, review articles and scientific abstracts. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer and Journal of Translational Medicine. He maintains an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School and is a Clinical Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital where he continues to see patients with cutaneous malignancies.

"We are honored to have Dr. Kaufman as our Consulting Medical Advisor, to jointly explore clinical mechanisms and translational medicine of oncolytic virus, and provide professional advice for our future clinical development. Dr. Kaufman also expressed great confidence in our current oncolytic virus clinical data." said Dr. Guoying Zhou, Chairman and CEO of ImmVira, "His insights will help us accelerate global clinical progress of oncolytic virus pipelines and meet medical needs of cancer patients as soon as possible."

About ImmVira

ImmVira is a biotechnology company focused on developing and synthesizing biological vector delivery platform. The company has constructed a fully integrated OVPENS (Open Vector+ Potent, Enabling, Novel & Safe) platform with solid science, technology and CMC know-how, and three derivative subplatforms including Oncolytic Virus, Cancer Vaccine and Biosynthetic Exosome, to support ongoing R&D, clinical studies and commercialization of best-in-class mono and combo therapies driven by clinical benefits in oncology and non-oncology fields.

SOURCE ImmVira