Date: 2016-10-13
Type of information: Nomination
Compound:
Company: Txcell (France)
Therapeutic area: Autoimmune diseases – Inflammatory diseases - Digestive diseases
Type agreement: nomination
Action mechanism:
Disease:
Details: * On October 13, 2016, TxCell announced the appointment of Li Zhou, PhD, as Vice President, Cell Engineering. Dr. Zhou brings extensive pharmaceutical experience in antibody engineering and T-cell engineering to strengthen and accelerate the development of TxCell’s ENTrIA CAR-Treg platform. Dr. Zhou was notably Lab Head, Investigator at the Novartis Biologics Center in Cambridge (Massachusetts, US), from 2009 to 2016. In this role, he led the discovery and engineering activities on Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cells (CAR-T) for cancer immunotherapy, with lead candidates now in clinical trials. He also led the development of next-generation CAR-Ts, including inducible CAR?Ts, which have achieved in vivo proof-of-concept. In his new role, Dr. Zhou will lead TxCell’s Cell Engineering team within the Research Department. In particular, he will lead the discovery and engineering activities on Chimeric Antigen Receptor in Treg cells (CAR-Treg) for immunotherapy of severe chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as well as organ transplantation. TxCell has developed a technology platform, ENTrIA, composed of engineered regulatory T cells (CAR-Treg). TxCell is focusing on four or five CAR?Treg programs, notably targeting lupus nephritis, bullous pemphigoid, multiple sclerosis and transplantation. TxCell’s objectives are to generate several additional preclinical proof-of-concept data within the next 12 months and to start at least one first-in-man clinical study before the end of 2018. A number of these programs are being developed through collaboration agreements with leading academic laboratories, including Ospedale San Raffaele (OSR) and the Lübeck Institute of Experimental Dermatology (LIED).
Financial terms:
Latest news:
