Avacta appoints new members to Scientific Advisory Board of Therapeutics Division
Avacta Group, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing cancer therapies and diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer and pre|CISION platforms, has made new appointments to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB),reflecting the progress ofthe Therapeutics Division and Avacta’s transition to a clinical stage company.
The SAB provides the Therapeutics Division with scientific and clinical advice to support its drug development decision making and pipeline strategy. The three new members of the SAB are Professor James Spicer MB., BA., PhD., FRCP; Professor Krishnan Komanduri, MD, and; Dr Stéphane Champiat MD, PhD.
James Spiceris Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at King’s College London and Consultant in Medical Oncology at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ Hospitals, London. He has established and runs a world-leading Phase 1 clinicaltrials programme in solid tumour oncology at Guy’sHospital, where the portfolio of studies includes novel immunotherapies discovered and developed at King’s as well as many externally sponsored studies.
Krishna Komanduri is Chief of the Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy, and Associate Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Innovation, at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, Miami. He is also a Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology and a physician-scientist with a laboratory focusing on T-cell immunology in cancer. Dr. Komanduri serves on the United Health Care Oncology Advisory Committee and is a past Chair of the American Society of Hematology Scientific Committee on Host Defense, is the current Chair of the ASTCT Cellular Therapy Committee and Chair-Elect of the Government Relations Committee.
Stéphane Champiat MD, PhD is a physician at the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Paris, where he focuses on the development of cancer therapeutics, in particular, new immunotherapies. He has been principal investigator or co-investigator of more than 50 Phase I clinical trials run by many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. He is particularly involved in the coordination of the immunotherapy toxicity management program and the development of the intra-tumoral immunotherapy strategy at Gustave Roussy.
