– CANADA, Halifax – IMV Inc. (NASDAQ: IMV | TSX: IMV), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering a novel class of immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Dr. Michael Kalos to its board of directors effective today.
Dr. Kalos is an internationally recognized expert in T cell therapy and immunotherapy and brings over 25 years of experience from both industry and academia. His previous career highlights include serving as VP, Immuno-oncology and Oncology Cell Therapies at Janssen and as CSO of Immuno-Oncology at Eli Lilly.
“We are enthusiastic to add such an experienced scientist and industry veteran like Michael to our board to help steer the company through this exciting period of clinical development for maveropepimut-S,” said CEO, Fred Ors. “As we broaden our pipeline of immunotherapy candidates, we are thrilled to be able to leverage Michael’s expertise in oncology clinical development. We look forward to his strategic insights in guiding the advancement of our lead immunotherapy toward potential registration and commercialization.”
The Company also announced that James Hall, who has served on its Board of Directors since February 2010, will be retiring at the AGM in June 2021.
Andy Sheldon, Board Chairman, commented: “We are very grateful to James for more than 11 years of dedicated service to IMV. On behalf of my fellow Board members and IMV’s management team, I would like to thank him for his long service and important contribution to the company.”
About Dr. Michael Kalos
Most recently Dr. Kalos served as EVP and Head of R&D at ArsenalBio, a synthetic biology-based cell therapy start-up where he led development of R&D and product development strategy for the company’s first product. Prior to ArsenalBio, Dr. Kalos served as VP, Immuno-oncology and Oncology Cell Therapies at Janssen, the pharmaceutical companies of Johnson and Johnson, where he led corporate internal and external strategy and efforts in cell therapy, neoantigen vaccines, and immuno-oncology. Prior to Janssen, he served as Chief Scientific Officer of Immuno-Oncology at Eli Lilly and Company, where he established and led internal and external corporate strategy in immuno-oncology, including biologics, bi-specifics, oncology vaccines, and cell therapy.
Dr. Kalos commented, “IMV has a unique and potentially transformative technology platform and has generated promising data with its lead drug candidate, maveropepimut-S, across multiple tumor types. I look forward to working closely with the Company’s Board and management team to advance the IMV pipeline and ultimately bring these novel immunotherapies to market and make a difference in the lives of patients.”
Prior to his career in the biopharmaceutical sector, Mr. Kalos spent 10 years in academia, where he focused on the development of integrated translational biomarker programs to support the development of cell therapy and immunotherapy programs. The laboratory he founded and directed at the University of Pennsylvania played a key role in the success of the clinical cell therapy program at Penn, including development of the CTL019 program, which was licensed to Novartis and led to Kymriah, the first approved CART cell therapy product.
Dr. Kalos obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and completed post-doctoral training in the laboratory of Phil Greenberg at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. He has co-authored over 85 peer-reviewed manuscripts, including multiple highly cited articles in high-impact journals that have helped define the space of CAR- and TCR- based T cell therapy, as well as book chapters in the field of cancer immunotherapy. He also has over 26 issued patents in the fields of cell therapy, immunotherapy, and vaccines. Dr. Kalos now actively serves in an advisory capacity for a number of biopharmaceutical companies as well as international immunotherapy consortia and organizations.
About IMV
IMV Inc. is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to making immunotherapy more effective, more broadly applicable, and more widely available to people facing cancer and other serious diseases. IMV is pioneering a new class of cancer immunotherapies based on the Company’s proprietary delivery platform. This patented technology leverages a differentiated mechanism of action that generates a targeted and durable immune activation with limited side effects. IMV’s lead candidate, Maveropepimut-S, is a T cell-activating immunotherapy that combines the utility of the platform with a novel cancer target: survivin. IMV is currently assessing Maveropepimut-S in advanced ovarian cancer, as well as a combination therapy in multiple clinical studies with Merck. IMV is also developing a DPX-based vaccine to fight against COVID-19.
For more information : https://www.imv-inc.com/
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