Sellas sends 2 execs packing while awaiting phase 3 cancer vax readout

Sellas Life Sciences Group is sending two executives out the door as part of efforts to optimize resources around advancing its clinical programs, including a phase 3 cancer vaccine being studied for patients with acute myeloid leukemia.    

Chief Commercial Officer Robert Francomano will be departing along with General Counsel and Corporate Secretary Barbara Wood. Francomano has held his position for two years, while Wood has been with Sellas for six years, according to their respective LinkedIn profiles.

“As part of our efforts to rapidly advance our clinical pipeline, we continue to streamline our operations to effectively and efficiently deliver on our key business objectives,” said Sellas CEO Angelos Stergiou, M.D., in a March. 8 release.

Stacy Yeung—recently promoted to Associate General Counsel and Head of Compliance—will now oversee the New York-based company’s legal matters. Sellas said the biotech is also engaging with a “seasoned commercial consultant,” according to the release.

Sellas is currently awaiting an interim analysis of a phase 3 trial assessing the company’s lead candidate, a peptide vaccine called galinpepimut-S (GPS), among patients with AML. The trial, dubbed REGAL, has a primary completion date set for December 2024, according to ClinicalTrials.gov.

The cancer candidate nabbed FDA orphan designation in October 2023 for AML and is licensed from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. GPS targets the WT1 protein, which is present in several tumor types. The biotech is also studying GPS in other, earlier-stage trials for various hematologic malignancies and solid tumor indications.