CytomX Therapeutics Promotes Henry Lowman, Ph.D., to Chief Scientific Officer

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- CytomX Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development of proteolytically-activated antibodies, today announced the promotion of Henry Lowman, Ph.D., to chief scientific officer. In this position, Dr. Lowman will lead research and development activities to advance the company’s Probody candidates through optimization, pre-clinical and early clinical development.

“Henry’s tremendous depth of experience in antibody engineering and therapeutic development has enabled him to make unique contributions to CytomX over the past year,” said Sean McCarthy, D. Phil., chief executive officer of CytomX. “His previous successes in the engineering of high value clinical candidates and marketed products will continue to prove invaluable as we gain even greater momentum with the Probody platform.”

Dr. Lowman joined CytomX in September 2010 as vice president of research. Prior to CytomX, he was director of protein sciences at NGM Biopharmaceuticals. Previously, Dr. Lowman spent 20 years in research and development at Genentech, Inc., where he began as an NIH postdoctoral fellow, and most recently served as director of the antibody engineering department. His focus has included structure-based protein design, structure-function analysis and molecular diversity techniques, which he has applied in several therapeutic development projects. Among other achievements, Dr. Lowman’s group at Genentech was responsible for the engineering of Lucentis (ranibizumab), a breakthrough therapy for age-related macular degeneration. He is an inventor on more than 60 issued patents, an author on more than 60 scientific publications and currently serves as an editorial board member for the antibody journal mAbs. Dr. Lowman earned his B.A. in chemistry at The Johns Hopkins University, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at Purdue University.

“CytomX has a unique approach to developing highly-targeted therapeutics, which has the potential to provide patients with less toxic, effective therapies for serious illnesses such as cancer and inflammatory diseases,” said Dr. Lowman. “CytomX has made significant progress in Probody optimization and development, and I am excited to take on this new role as we move closer to our goal of bringing the next generation of antibody therapies to market.”

About CytomX Therapeutics

CytomX Therapeutics is a privately held biotechnology company developing Probodies™, or proteolytically-activated antibodies. Probodies combine the well established power and specificity of monoclonal antibodies with a second level of tissue selectivity, driven by the action of endogenous disease enzymes. Probodies, by their ability to site-direct the activity of antibodies, should result in an improved therapeutic index for validated targets as well as enabling the drugging of targets with broad tissue expression. The company’s mission, alone and with the help of partners, is to provide patients with more effective and less toxic therapies for severe illnesses such as cancer and inflammatory diseases. CytomX is backed by top-tier life sciences investors including Third Rock Ventures and the Roche Venture Fund. For more information, please visit www.cytomx.com.



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