LONDON, June 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Achilles Therapeutics plc (NASDAQ: ACHL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision T cell therapies to treat solid tumors, today announced the appointment of James Taylor as Chief Business Officer and Cassian Yee, MD to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), effective July 1, 2022.
James brings over 25 years of value-creating deal experience that includes global platform and asset deals for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Most recently, he was Chief Business Officer at Sosei Heptares, where he completed a major collaboration with Neurocrine Biosciences for a Phase II-ready M4 agonist for schizophrenia, and led deals with Genentech, Takeda, AbbVie, GSK, Verily, Aditum and Biohaven Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this, James was a senior director at GSK where he led deals with GlycoVaxyn, Novartis, Pfizer, Biological E and consulted for Galvani Bioelectronics, the GSK/Google joint venture. He has held executive management roles at AstraZeneca, Summit Therapeutics and Cellzome.
"Achilles has pioneered clonal neoantigen-targeted therapy and AI-powered bioinformatics, offering the potential to unlock therapeutic capabilities that I believe will have a tremendous impact for patients," commented James Taylor, incoming Chief Business Officer at Achilles Therapeutics. "I look forward to exploring strategic partnerships to maximize the value of precision T cell therapies and platform technologies for the treatment of solid tumors."
The Company has also expanded its Scientific Advisory Board with the addition of Cassian Yee, MD. Dr. Yee is a professor in the department of melanoma medical oncology and the department of immunology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, as well as director of the solid tumor cell therapy program at MD Anderson. He is a highly regarded immuno-oncology leader, and notable pioneer in the field of adoptive cellular therapy.
"I am delighted to work closely with the team at Achilles as their precision T cell therapies further advance in the clinic," said Cassian Yee, MD, Director, Department of Solid Tumor Cell Therapy Program, Division of Center for Cancer Immunology Research, MD Anderson Cancer Center. "I believe the neoantigen field is poised to make significant advances in the treatment of late-stage solid tumors and Achilles' novel platform and modality can be part of that evolution."
About Achilles Therapeutics
Achilles is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing precision T cell therapies targeting clonal neoantigens: protein markers unique to the individual that are expressed on the surface of every cancer cell. The Company has two ongoing Phase I/IIa trials, the CHIRON trial in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and the THETIS trial in patients with recurrent or metastatic melanoma. Achilles uses DNA sequencing data from each patient, together with its proprietary AI-Powered PELEUS bioinformatics platform, to identify clonal neoantigens specific to that patient, and then develop precision T cell-based product candidates specifically targeting those clonal neoantigens.
Investors:
Achilles Therapeutics
Lee M. Stern, VP, IR & External Communications
l.stern@achillestx.com
LifeSci Advisors
John Mullaly
jmullaly@lifesciadvisors.com
Media:
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott, Sukaina Virji, Melissa Gardiner
+44
