Oncorus welcomes Dr. Eric Rubin to its Board of Directors

– USA, MA –  Oncorus, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONCR), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation viral immunotherapies to transform outcomes for cancer patients, today announced the appointment of Dr. Eric Rubin, M.D. to its Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to welcome Eric to our Board as we progress our pipeline of viral immunotherapies engineered for systemic activity,” said CEO, Dr. Theodore Ashburn. “We look forward to the initial readout later this year from our ongoing Phase 1 clinical study of ONCR-177, our lead oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus candidate, and we are continuing to advance our recently nominated novel Synthetic viral RNA Immunotherapy candidates toward the clinic. Eric’s contributions to the oncology field, including his pioneering work at Merck in immuno-oncology, has truly helped transform the care of cancer patients. We look forward to his insights and guidance as we work with urgency to realize the full potential of viral immunotherapies for cancer patients.”

About Dr. Eric Rubin

Dr. Rubin brings to Oncorus an expansive 30-year academic and industry career in cancer drug development, including his oncology leadership roles at Merck, known as MSD outside of the United States and Canada, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President of Global Clinical Oncology.

Beginning his oncology career in academia, Dr. Rubin served as a faculty member at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and then as a senior leader of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where he was Director of the Investigational Therapeutics Division. His research efforts focused on mechanisms of resistance to DNA topoisomerase-targeting drugs and his laboratory cloned TOPORS, a novel topoisomerase I- and p53-interacting tumor suppressor gene. In 2008, Dr. Rubin was recruited to Merck to lead the clinical oncology development team. Under his leadership, the clinical oncology group underwent a transformational change to realize the potential of cancer immunotherapy. He led the initial development of the anti-PD-1 antibody pembrolizumab, which was the first anti-PD-1 therapy approved in the U.S., and in the identification of the significant activity of this breakthrough therapeutic across several cancer types. In 2014, Dr. Rubin was asked to head up Oncology Early Development for Merck, and in this role, he oversees the development of a promising and expansive early pipeline, as well as translational oncology research activities.

Dr. Rubin has authored over 100 original, peer-reviewed publications and book chapters related to oncology translational research, clinical trials, and drug development. He has served frequently as a member of the National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society study sections, as well as on program committees for the American Association of Cancer Research and the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a co-chair of the Cancer Steering Committee of the Biomarkers Consortium, Foundation of the National Institute of Health, a member of the Science Policy and Governmental Affairs Committee for AACR, and was a member of the National Cancer Moonshot Initiative/Blue Ribbon Panel Working Group on Expanding Clinical Trials.

About Oncorus

At Oncorus, we are focused on driving innovation to deliver next-generation viral immunotherapies to transform outcomes for cancer patients. We are advancing a portfolio of intratumorally and intravenously administered viral immunotherapies for multiple indications with significant unmet needs based on our oncolytic Herpes Simplex Virus and Synthetic viral RNA Immunotherapy Platforms.

Designed to deliver next-generation viral immunotherapy impact, our oHSV platform improves upon key characteristics of this therapeutic class to enhance systemic activity. Our lead oHSV program, ONCR-177, is designed to be directly administered into a tumor, resulting in high local concentrations of the therapeutic agent and its five encoded transgenes, as well as low systemic exposure to the therapy, which we believe could potentially limit systemic toxicities. Our pioneering Synthetic vRNA Immunotherapy Platform involves a highly innovative, novel combination of RNA- and oncolytic virus-based modalities to realize the potential of RNA medicines for cancer. Our lead IV-administered Synthetic vRNA clinical candidates, ONCR-021 and ONCR-788, are both currently in IND-enabling studies.

For more information: https://oncorus.com/

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Talent4Boards Team