HOUSTON, Oct. 23, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Marker
Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MRKR), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology
company, today announced the addition of four senior executives to
its executive management team.
Juan F. Vera, M.D., has been
appointed Chief Development Officer. Dr. Vera is currently an
Associate Professor at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at
Baylor College of Medicine and a
scientific co-founder of the company's multi-antigen T cell
therapeutic platform. Dr. Vera also currently serves as a member of
Marker Therapeutics' Board of Directors.
Ann M. Leen, Ph.D., has been
appointed Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Leen is an Associate
Professor at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy Baylor College of Medicine and a scientific
co-founder of Marker's MultiTAA T cell therapy platform.
Ken Moseley, J.D., has been
appointed General Counsel. Mr. Moseley has over 25 years of
experience as corporate counsel for companies in the cell and gene
therapy field.
Tsvetelina Pencheva Hoang, Ph.D.,
has been appointed Vice President, Research & Development. Dr.
Hoang brings to Marker Therapeutics over 15 years of experience in
cancer immunotherapy from discovery to clinical translation.
"Together, our new executives add over 75 years of cumulative
experience in advancing cell therapies and immunotherapies that can
change patients' lives. We are excited and fortunate to have these
four highly accomplished professionals join our team," commented
Marker Therapeutics' President & CEO Peter L. Hoang. "We believe their extensive
experience and contribution will be critical in advancing our
pipeline of next-generation, non gene-modified multi-antigen
specific T cell therapies for the treatment of blood cancers and
solid tumors."
Juan Vera, M.D.
For the past 12 years, Juan F.
Vera has worked extensively on developing novel T cell
therapies and optimizing manufacturing processes for clinical
applications at the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (CAGT) at
Baylor College of Medicine. In
collaboration with Wilson Wolf Manufacturing, he has been
instrumental in the design and testing of the G-Rex® cell culture
platform and pioneered its use for the large-scale production of T
cells. Dr. Vera has extensive expertise in developing and
streamlining therapeutic candidates from the research bench to the
cGMP facility while ensuring robust production and scalability. Dr.
Vera has previously collaborated with Celgene and Bluebird Bio in
developing novel CAR T cell therapies. He has also been the
recipient of different prestigious awards including the Idea
Development Award from the Department of Defense and Mentored
Research Scholar Award from the American Cancer Society. Dr. Vera
attained his M.D. from the University El Bosque in Bogota, Colombia.
Ann Leen, Ph.D.
Ann M. Leen is a distinguished
immunologist who has dedicated over 15 years to the
characterization of immunogenic viral antigens and identification
of novel T cell epitopes, ultimately translating these findings
into innovative T cell-based therapies. She has established herself
as a leader in the field of virus-specific T cell therapy by
extending the pioneering efforts of Drs. Helen E. Heslop, Malcolm
K. Brenner and Cliona M.
Rooney towards utilizing the natural capacity of T cells to
target a range of clinically problematic viruses. Her research
efforts, in collaboration with Drs. Heslop and Rooney, were also
the first to demonstrate the feasibility of using virus-specific T
cells as a third party, off-the-shelf product to treat drug
refractory cytomegalovirus and adenovirus infections. Dr. Leen was
awarded the Outstanding New Investigator Award from the American
Society of Gene and Cell Therapy in 2013 and Best Abstract for
Outstanding Clinical Research at the 2011 American Society of Bone
Marrow Transplantation Annual Meeting. Dr. Leen holds a Ph.D. in
Immunology from the CRC Institute for Cancer Studies in
Birmingham, UK, and a BSc in
biochemistry from the University of College Cork in Ireland.
Ken Moseley, J.D.
Ken Moseley, J.D., has more than
25 years of experience as Corporate Counsel for companies in the
cell and gene therapy space, including Bellicum Pharmaceuticals,
Osiris Therapeutics, SyStemix and Applied Immune Sciences. Most
recently he was Senior Vice President and General Counsel at
Bellicum, where he served from 2011-2018. From 2009-2011, he was
General Counsel at REPAIR Technologies, Inc., a private
biotechnology company. Previously, he served as General Counsel at
Cognate BioServices from 2002-2009. Prior to Cognate, he was Vice
President of Business Development & Patents at Osiris
Therapeutics and he served as the Director of Intellectual Property
at SyStemix, a Novartis company. He also served as Director of
Intellectual Property for Applied Immune Sciences, a Rhone-Poulenc
Rorer company. Mr. Moseley is a registered patent attorney and a
member of the California and Texas
Bars. Mr. Moseley received a JD and a BS in Biophysical Chemistry
from the University of Houston and a BA
from Rice University.
Tsvetelina Pencheva Hoang,
Ph.D.
Tsvetelina P. Hoang brings over
15 years of experience in cancer immunotherapy, including
antibody-based and adoptive cell therapies. Most recently, she was
the Director of Translational Research at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals
where she oversaw the pre-clinical development of the company's T
cell receptor (TCR) and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered
T cell therapy programs and the translation of those programs into
the clinic. Previously, she was a member of the faculty at The
University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer
Center, investigating the molecular mechanisms of immune checkpoint
inhibitors' function. Dr. Hoang worked closely with Dr.
James Allison, the 2018 Nobel
Laureate in medicine and a renowned pioneer in the field of tumor
immunotherapy, as a member of his team at University of California-Berkeley, Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and MD Anderson Cancer Center. She
earned her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins
University and holds a combined B.S./M.S. degree with
distinction, magna cum laude, from Yale
University. She was a recipient of a Cancer Research
Institute fellowship and is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honor
society.
About Marker Therapeutics, Inc.
Marker Therapeutics,
Inc. is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company specializing in
the development of next-generation T cell-based immunotherapies for
the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumor
indications. Marker's cell therapy technology is based on the
selective expansion of non-engineered, tumor-specific T cells that
recognize tumor associated antigens (i.e. tumor targets) and kill
tumor cells expressing those targets. Once infused into patients,
this population of T cells attacks multiple tumor targets and acts
to activate the patient's immune system to produce broad spectrum
anti-tumor activity. Because Marker does not genetically engineer
its T cells, when compared to current engineered CAR-T and
TCR-based approaches, its products (i) are significantly less
expensive and easier to manufacture, (ii) appear to be markedly
less toxic, and (iii) are associated with meaningful clinical
benefit. As a result, Marker believes its portfolio of T cell
therapies has a compelling therapeutic product profile, as compared
to current gene-modified CAR-T and TCR-based therapies.
Marker is also advancing several innovative peptides- and
gene-based immuno-therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and
metastatic disease, including our Folate Receptor Alpha program
(TPIV200) for breast and ovarian cancers and our HER2/neu+ peptide
antigen program (TPIV100/110) in Phase II clinical trials. In
parallel, we are developing a proprietary DNA expression technology
named PolyStart™ to improve the ability of the cellular immune
system to recognize and destroy diseased cells.
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Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer
This release
contains forward-looking information within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements in
this news release concerning the Company's expectations, plans,
business outlook or future performance, and any other statements
concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future
events, conditions, performance or other matters, are
"forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements include
statements regarding our intentions, beliefs, projections, outlook,
analyses or current expectations concerning, among other things:
our research and development activities relating to our
multi-antigen specific T cell therapies; our TPIV200 and
TPIV100/110 programs and our PolyStart™ program; the
effectiveness of these programs or the possible range of
application and potential curative effects and safety in the
treatment of diseases; and, the timing and success of our clinical
trials. Forward-looking statements are by their nature subject to
risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual
results to differ materially from those stored in such statements.
Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited
to the risks set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10-K, 10-Q
and other SEC filings which are available through EDGAR at
www.sec.gov. The Company assumes no obligation to update the
forward-looking statements.
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SOURCE Marker Therapeutics, Inc.