Oxford, August 25, 2021 – Celleron Therapeutics, the UK-based company developing personalised medicines for cancer patients, today announced that it has appointed Mr James Noble as its new Board Chairman.
James Noble MA FCA has held a number of high-profile positions in his long and successful career in the biotech sector, most recently as Co-Founder and CEO of Adaptimmune Therapeutics. He was also the founding CEO of Immunocore Ltd. James currently serves as a non-executive director of Adaptimmune and was Deputy Chairman of NASDAQ-listed GW Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, James held a wide range of non-executive roles, including on the Boards of Medigene, Powderject and Oxford Glycosciences. He was previously CFO at British Biotech, where he took the company public in London on NASDAQ and was formerly a director at the investment bank, Kleinwort Benson. James has extensive experience of both private and public sector markets.
Professor Declan Doogan, who led the Board as Chairman since 2016, will be stepping down from the role, but will remain with the company as Senior Scientific and Clinical Advisor. During his term as Celleron Therapeutics’ Chairman, Professor Doogan oversaw a number of key milestones for the company, including the completion of Phase I/II clinical trials for zabinostat, and the spinout of SynOx Therapeutics.
Professor Nick La Thangue, CEO and Co-Founder, commented: “We are honoured to have James as our new Chairman. James brings a wealth of experience to the company and is recognised internationally for his many commercial accomplishments. The company is indebted to Dec Doogan for his stalwart chairmanship and wise counsel”.
James Noble, Chairman, commented: “I have worked with the Celleron Therapeutics team for many years and am delighted to take on the chairman role. Celleron Therapeutics has great potential to create new drugs for patients and I look forward to helping to create a substantial business over the coming years”.
Professor Declan Doogan commented: “I am pleased to pass the baton to James who has a splendid record of leadership in emerging bio Pharma companies. I am proud of what Nick La Thangue and David Kerr have achieved to date and will provide whatever guidance I can as Celleron Therapeutics begins a new chapter”.
NOTES:
About Celleron Therapeutics
Celleron Therapeutics is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of best-in-class therapies to treat cancer indications with unmet medical need. The company is a spin-out from Oxford University and is located at the Oxford Science Park, UK. Celleron has exclusive worldwide rights to zabinostat (CXD101) through a global licensing partnership with AstraZeneca. The company secured investment in 2016 from a consortium of South Korean investors. In 2020, Celleron incorporated SynOx Therapeutics, a portfolio company dedicated to the development of emactuzumab, and secured EUR 37M to support the company from a syndicate of blue-chip VC investors. Celleron is managed by a highly experienced team with proven track records, and its strong relationship with Oxford University provides access to an extensive global clinical and scientific network. For more information, please visit www.cellerontherapeutics.com
About Zabinostat
Zabinostat is an epigenetic immune regulator that activates genes involved in tumour antigen presentation and acts by stimulating cancer cells to present tumour antigens to T-lymphocytes, thus overcoming immune evasion. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has previously granted to zabinostat Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) as single agent therapy, based upon early-phase trial efficacy seen in relapsed or refractory peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL) patients. A Phase Ib/II trial is being conducted in Mainland China and Hong Kong by Celleron’s China partner, Nuance Biotech, to further validate the safety and efficacy of zabinostat monotherapy in PTCL. A Phase Ib/II clinical trial (study name: CAROSELL) has been conducted in the UK to test the combined effect of zabinostat and nivolumab in advanced or metastatic microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer. Results showed that the combination treatment was well-tolerated and displayed promising anti-tumour activity with minimal side effects.