PHILADELPHIA, March 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Immunome, a biotechnology company leveraging tumor immunology to develop cancer therapeutics, today announced that industry veteran Michael J. Morin, PhD, has joined Immunome as president and chief scientific officer. Dr. Morin offers more than 25 years in pharmaceutical research and development with a proven track record of developing approvable cancer therapy candidates.
"Immunome is on the leading edge of the immunotherapy revolution, developing breakthrough products to treat cancer," said Jane H. Hollingsworth, executive chair and interim chief executive officer of Immunome. "We do this by isolating the antibodies generated by the patients' own immune response, allowing us to discover, develop and commercialize highly targeted antibodies against novel universal cancer antigens. Mike's exceptional track record in the discovery and development of cancer treatments allows us to most effectively industrialize and enhance the productivity of our groundbreaking immunotherapy technology."
Dr. Morin's oncology career spans academia and industry, including 17 years at Pfizer where he served as vice president of global research and development overseeing immunology, anti-bacterials and cancer drug discovery in Groton, CT. Approximately 40 clinical candidates were discovered under Dr. Morin's leadership at Pfizer. Following his time at Pfizer, Dr. Morin worked as an advisor to venture-backed biotechnology and publicly held pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Morin also actively participates in a variety of cancer research organizations, including as long-standing co-chair of the NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) review panel, chair of the Drug Discovery Initiative of the Children's Tumor Foundation, and as a member of the scientific advisory board of the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research.
"Immunome is well positioned to rapidly advance its exceptional target discovery engine and grow pipeline of cancer therapeutic candidates," said Dr. Morin. "This is an extraordinary opportunity to harness the power of the human immune response to identify unprecedented targets and antibody therapeutics to treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases."
Immunome's founder and former chief scientific officer, Scott Dessain, MD, PhD, assumes the role of chief technology officer allowing him to focus his time and expertise on maximizing and enhancing the value of the company's novel target discovery and functional screening technology.
About Immunome
Immunome is a biotechnology company leveraging tumor immunology with a growing pipeline of cancer immunotherapies produced by a unique and powerful immunotherapy discovery engine. Immunome's proprietary RealMAb technology enables the simultaneous discovery of novel antigens and the cognate native human antibodies that target those antigens. RealMAb, originally developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Whitehead Institute, utilizes the human immune system response to circumvent the weaknesses, complications and inefficiencies of non-human approaches. After identification, Immunome employs its proprietary screening technology to screen for functional and specific cancer activity of these antigen antibody pairs. For more information about the company, visit http://immunome.com.
Investor Contact
Jane H. Hollingsworth
Interim CEO and Executive Chair
Immunome, Inc.
[email protected]
Media Contact
Jennifer Guinan
Sage Strategic Marketing
610.410.8111
[email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release concerning the development of Immunome's products and the potential benefits and attributes of these products are "forward-looking statements", as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause actual future events or results to differ materially from such statements. These statements are made as of the date of this press release. Immunome undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements for any reason.
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SOURCE Immunome, Inc.