Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 22 October 2019 – Kiadis Pharma N.V. (“Kiadis Pharma” or the “Company”) (Euronext Amsterdam and Brussels: KDS), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, today announces the formation of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of world-leading experts in the field of oncology and cell therapy. The SAB will provide invaluable scientific expertise and guidance to the Kiadis management team and Board, as the Company progresses its two synergistic proprietary cell-based immunotherapy platforms and creates a pipeline of innovative treatments for cancer patients. Arthur Lahr, CEO of Kiadis Pharma commented: “We are delighted to welcome this prestigious group to our Scientific Advisory Board, bringing a wealth of scientific and medical experience in T-cell and NK-cell cancer therapeutics. World renowned scientists and clinicians include the successful, pioneering CAR-T expert Dr. Carl June and CytoSen co-founder Dr. Dean Lee who will Chair the Scientific Advisory Board. The Board’s knowledge and experience in the field of oncology will be invaluable as we leverage the strengths of the human immune system to help patients with life-threatening diseases.” The SAB members include: - Chiara Bonini, MD, Professor of Hematology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan;
- Michael Caligiuri, MD, President, City of Hope National Medical Center, Los Angeles, California;
- Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis;
- Helen Heslop, MD, DSc, Professor and Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine;
- Carl June, MD, the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania;
- Krishna Komanduri, MD, Kalish Family Chair in Stem Cell Transplantation and Chief, Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Miami;
- Elaine Mardis, PhD, Co-executive Director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital; and
- Dean Lee, MD, PhD, Director of the Cellular Therapy and Cancer Immunotherapy Program for Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Division of Hematology/Oncology/BMT and Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Diseases.
Kiadis Contacts: Kiadis Pharma:
Maryann Cimino, Manager, Corporate Affairs
Tel: +1 (617) 710-7305
m.cimino@kiadis.com
| Optimum Strategic Communications:
Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Hollie Vile
Tel: +44 203 950 9144
David Brilleslijper (Amsterdam)
Tel: +31 610 942 514
kiadis@optimumcomms.com
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About Kiadis
Founded in 1997, Kiadis Pharma, is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company committed to developing innovative therapies for patients with life threatening diseases. With headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and offices in the US and across Europe, Kiadis Pharma is leveraging the natural strengths of humanity and our collective immune system to source the best cells for life. Kiadis Pharma is listed on the regulated market of Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Brussels since July 2, 2015, under the symbol KDS. Learn more at www.kiadis.com. Scientific Advisory Board Biographies Chiara Bonini, MD
Chiara Bonini, MD, is a Professor of Hematology at the Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan, Italy, Deputy Director of the Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, and head of Experimental hematology Unit at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy. The focus of her research is the development and preclinical and clinical validation of tumor immunotherapy approaches with genetically modified T lymphocytes. Dr. Bonini received a Degree in Medicine and Surgery (110/110 cum Laude, Honorable Mention), from the University of Milan. Michael Caligiuri, MD
Michael A. Caligiuri, MD, is the President, City of Hope National Medical Center in Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Caligiuri is a world-renowned physician, scientist, builder, innovator, leader and visionary at City of Hope. For the prior 20 years, Dr Caligiuri has worked as a physician, scientist and leader at The Ohio State University. He spent the past decade as CEO of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and Director of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center for 14 years, recruiting over 300 cancer physicians and scientists.
Dr. Caligiuri was elected to the National Academy of Medicine’s Class of 2018 for his breakthrough discoveries in NK cell biology, NK leukemia and cutaneous T cell lymphoma. He is also the immediate past president of the American Association for Cancer Research, the world's largest cancer research organization with 40,000 members in 120 countries. In addition to serving as president of the AACR, he was also recently named a Fellow of the AACR Academy. Dr. Caligiuri received his MD from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed a Fellowship in Medical Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplantation & Immunology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School. Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD
Todd Fehniger, MD, PhD, is Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, where he serves as the scientific co-director of the Center for Gene and Cellular Immunotherapy. Dr. Fehniger is a physician-scientist who leads a research program focused on understanding mechanisms that control natural killer (NK) cell development and function. In addition, his lab performs translation studies in an effort to apply immune cells such as NK cells or drugs that augment NK cell activity as therapy for patients with cancer. His clinical expertise is in leukemia, lymphoma, immunotherapy, and hematopoietic cell transplantation. Dr. Fehniger received his MD/PhD in Medicine/Immunology from The Ohio State University College of Medicine and completed residency and fellowship training at Washington University School of Medicine. Helen Heslop, MD, DSc
Helen Heslop, MD, DSc, is a physician-scientist at Baylor College of Medicine engaged in translational research focusing on adoptive immunotherapy with gene-modified effector cells to improve hemopoietic stem cell transplantation and cancer therapy. Dr. Heslop is a Professor and Director of the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine, Dan L Duncan Chair, and Associate Director Clinical Research at the D L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is also a past President of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, the American Society of Transplant and Cell Therapy and the Foundation for Accreditation of Cell therapy. Dr. Heslop received her MD from University of Otago, New Zealand. She is a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (FRCPA). Carl June, MD
Carl June, MD, is an immunologist and oncologist. He is currently the Richard W. Vague Professor in Immunotherapy in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. June has been a pioneer in the field of immunotherapy, most widely known for the development of T-cell therapy for cancer. In the 1980s, his lab demonstrated that the CD28 molecule was the major control switch for T cells. A few years later, he tested the ability to culture genetically modified CAR-Ts in humans, discovering that the cells could engraft and persist in patients with HIV/AIDS for years. His work led to the development and commercialization of tisagenlecleucel, the first FDA-approved gene therapy. Dr. June graduated from the US Naval Academy and earned his medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine. He spent his fourth year of medical school at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, studying immunology and malaria and completed clinical training in internal medicine and medical oncology at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. June conducted postdoctoral research in transplantation biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle. Krishna Komanduri, MD
Krishna Komanduri, MD, is a physician-scientist and clinical expert in hematology and cellular therapy for cancer. His laboratory research is focused on basic and translational studies of immunology in healthy and immunocompromised patients, including hematopoietic transplant recipients.
Dr. Komanduri holds the Kalish Family Chair in Stem Cell Transplantation and heads the Division of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. He served as 2017-18 President of the American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy and the 2015 Chair of the ASH Scientific Committee on Immunology and Host Defense. He is Co-Chair of the Infection and Immune Reconstitution Working Committee for the CIBMTR, Co-Chair of the ASTCT Cellular Therapy Committee, member of the MIT NEWDiGS FoCUS think tank on financing models for curative therapies and member of the Board of Directors of the National Marrow Donor Program/Be the Match. Dr. Komanduri earned an SB in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MD from University of Minnesota Medical School. He completed his medical residency at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences before training in hematology, medical oncology and laboratory immunology at UCSF and previously served as a faculty member at UCSF and the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Elaine Mardis, PhD
Elaine Mardis, PhD, is the co-executive director of the Institute for Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital, where she also serves as the Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Genomic Medicine. She also is professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Mardis’s research focuses on the genomic characterization of cancer and its implications for cancer medicine. She was part of the team that reported the first next-generation-based sequencing of a whole cancer genome, and participated extensively in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP). Dr. Mardis received her bachelor’s degree in zoology and her PhD in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma. Dean Lee, MD, PhD
Dean Lee, MD, PhD, is a physician in the Division of Hematology, Oncology, and BMT at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and director of the Cellular Therapy and Cancer Immunology Program at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. He is a professor of pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine and the DiMarco Family Endowed Chair in Cell Based Therapy. Dr. Lee is chair of the Cellular Therapy Strategy Group for the Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Consortium, member of the NIH Novel and Exceptional Technology and Research Advisory Committee, and member of the Cell Therapy Steering Committee for the Children’s Oncology Group. Dr. Lee earned his bachelor’s degree in natural sciences from Fresno Pacific College, completed his medical, doctoral, and pediatric residency training at Loma Linda University and then completed a fellowship in pediatric hematology/oncology at Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine. Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this press release are forward-looking, which reflect Kiadis Pharma’s or, as appropriate, Kiadis Pharma’s directors’ current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. A multitude of factors including, but not limited to, changes in demand, regulation, competition and technology, can cause actual events, performance or results to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. As a result, Kiadis Pharma expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any update or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release as a result of any change in expectations or any change in events, conditions, assumptions or circumstances on which these forward-looking statements are based. Neither Kiadis Pharma nor its advisers or representatives nor any of its subsidiary undertakings or any such person’s officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does either accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the forward-looking statements contained in this press release or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
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