Nouscom Appoints Adrian Woolfson, M.D., Ph.D as Chief Medical Officer

BASEL, Switzerland, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Nouscom, an immuno-oncology company developing off-the-shelf and personalized neoantigen-based genetic cancer vaccines based on its clinically validated Exovax platform, announced today the appointment of Adrian Woolfson M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Woolfson brings to Nouscom over a decade of extensive and broad experience in leading clinical trials in oncology and hematology in the pharmaceutical industry. At Nouscom Dr. Woolfson will play a key role in leading the Company's clinical development of its neoantigen off-the-shelf vaccine targeting tumors associated with Microsatellite Instability (MSI), as well as the personalized neoantigen vaccines and oncolytic virus programs.

"We are pleased to welcome Adrian, a seasoned pharmaceutical industry executive with highly relevant immunotherapy experience, to Nouscom's management team," said Alfredo Nicosia, Chief Executive Officer of Nouscom. "Adrian's extensive immunotherapy drug development experience will allow us to leverage the clinical potential of our best-in-class platform as we look to enter our lead program, NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine, into the clinic."

"Nouscom is positioned to be a leading player in the neoantigen vaccine space. The Company combines a deep knowledge of infectious disease vaccines, with cutting-edge neoantigen predictive bioinformatics, a proprietary best-in-class platform, and a state-of-the art manufacturing capability," said Dr. Adrian Woolfson. "I look forward to working with Nouscom's highly experienced management team to develop its innovative neoantigen-based genetic cancer vaccines and potentially make this treatment option available to physicians and cancer patients."

Dr. Woolfson joins Nouscom from Pfizer where he most recently served as Global Clinical Leader Early and Late Stage Immuno-Oncology/Hematology and was responsible for building a diverse portfolio of monotherapy and combination studies for Pfizer's PD-L1 inhibitor Bavencio and 4-1BB agonist Utomilumab. Prior to Pfizer, he was Global Clinical Lead at Bristol-Myers Squibb where he was responsible for the development of a portfolio of small-molecule inhibitors including JAK2, CDC7, SMO, and IGF-1R/IR. Dr. Woolfson's clinical and post-graduate medical training was at Balliol College, Oxford, UK and Addenbrooke's Hospital Cambridge, UK. His Ph.D. and post-doctoral molecular immunology fellowship were supervised by Nobel Prize winner César Milstein.

About Nouscom 

Nouscom is a privately-held oncology company developing next-generation immunotherapies. Nouscom's proprietary technology platform, Exovax, harnesses the full power of the immune response by combining viral vectored genetic vaccines based on neoantigens with other immunomodulators.

Nouscom is currently advancing the development of its lead program, NOUS-209, an off-the-shelf cancer vaccine based on shared frame-shift generated neoantigens, into clinical studies. The Company will also continue to develop its' preclinical product candidate, NOUS-100-PV, a personalized neoantigen-based vaccine, which is also expected to enter clinical studies in 2019.

Nouscom is led by an experienced management team that has worked together for many years in previous successful enterprises, including IRBM/Merck and Okairos (acquired by GSK), and are veterans in the field of viral vectored genetic vaccines.

Nouscom, which was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland with operations in Rome, Italy, is backed by international life sciences investors: 5AM, Abingworth, LSP (Life Sciences Partners) and Versant Ventures.

For more information on Nouscom, please visit the company's website at www.nouscom.com

Contacts:
Nouscom
Marina Udier, Chief Operating Officer
E: [email protected]
Tel: +41-61-201-1835

Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Sylvie Berrebi, Mark Swallow
[email protected]
T: +44-(0)-20-7638-9571

SOURCE Nouscom