NeoPhore Strengthens Scientific Leadership Team

- Josep Tabernero joins SAB and Julian Blagg elevated to SAB Chair

- Martin Drysdale appointed VP of Drug Discovery

News provided by

Aug 04, 2020, 03:30 ET

CAMBRIDGE, England, Aug. 4, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- NeoPhore Limited, a small molecule cancer neoantigen immuno-oncology company, today announces the appointment of Dr Josep Tabernero as member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and the elevation of Dr Julian Blagg to Chair of the SAB. The strengthening of the scientific team is complemented with the appointment of Dr Martin Drysdale as Vice President (VP) of Drug Discovery. These new additions follow the announcement of Dr Matthew Baker's appointment as Chief Executive Officer earlier this year.

Commenting on today's announcement, Dr Matthew Baker, Chief Executive Officer of NeoPhore said: "On behalf of the executive team, I am pleased to welcome Martin and Josep to NeoPhore. Alongside Julian, their expertise in drug discovery and clinical oncology will be invaluable in driving the company forward, as we advance our mission to develop new first in class oncology drugs targeting the DNA mismatch repair pathway."

Newly appointed Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Dr Julian Blagg, added: "I am thrilled to have been given the opportunity to chair NeoPhore's SAB and I look forward to working alongside my esteemed colleagues as we continue developing the next-generation of immuno-oncology drugs."

As a world-renown clinician, Dr Josep Tabernero brings over 20 years' experience in oncological drug discovery. He was President (2018-2019) of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO). He has been Principal Investigator of several Phase I pharmacodynamic studies and translational projects with tumor-directed targeted therapies and immune therapies. Josep is also Head of the Medical Oncology Department at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital and Director of the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO).

Dr Julian Blagg, newly promoted to Chair of the SAB, is an experienced medicinal chemist and oncology drug discovery scientist having authored over 200 publications and patents; he was awarded the 2012 AACR Team Science Award for achievements in drug discovery alongside his colleagues from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), London, UK. Before joining NeoPhore, he was Deputy Director, Professor and Head of Chemistry for CRUK's Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the ICR. Julian practiced medicinal chemistry and drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry (Pfizer), both in the US and UK, where he was responsible for the successful progression of multiple preclinical development candidates into clinical trials across four therapeutic areas.

Dr Martin Drysdale has over 30 years' experience in drug discovery across large pharma and biotech as well as not-for-profit institutes in both the UK and US. After an industrial post-doc with Parke-Davis in Cambridge, UK, Martin was senior chemist at Wellcome and group leader at GlaxoWellcome before taking the role of Head of Chemistry at RiboTargets in Cambridge, UK. RiboTargets later became Vernalis where he was Director of Chemistry & Structural Biology and Deputy Research Director. Until recently, Martin was Head of the Drug Discovery Unit within the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Beatson Institute and was Director of the Center for the Development of Therapeutics (CDoT) at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

For further information:

Optimum Strategic Communications
Mary Clark, Manel Mateus
[email protected]
Tel: +44 203 950 9144

About NeoPhore Ltd

NeoPhore, based in London, UK is focused on the discovery and development of novel small molecule drugs targeting the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) pathway to treat cancer. Inhibition of MMR in tumours generates neoantigens that the patients' own immune system can target with a powerful anti-tumour response. The Company aims to generate first in class small molecule immuno-oncology therapeutics to improve clinical outcomes for solid tumour cancer patients. NeoPhore was spun-out of PhoreMost Ltd and is backed by Sixth Element Capital LLP, a UK based fund manager established to manage investments for the £70 million CRT Pioneer Fund. For more information please visit www.neophore.com

SOURCE NeoPhore