LIfT BioSciences, (‘LIfT’ or ‘the Company’), a rapidly emerging biotech company preparing to start clinical trials for its first-in-class allogeneic innate cell therapy, today announces the appointment of Antonin (Tony) de Fougerolles, PhD as Chairman of its Board.
Tony brings over 25 years of biotech R&D experience in building out drug pipelines and bringing new-to-world therapeutic modalities to patients. He has most recently served as CEO of Evox Therapeutics and previously, served as CSO of Ablynx, where he led the company’s non-clinical R&D operations and played a key role in the approval of the first single domain antibody drug, caplacizumab and in building out a portfolio of immuno-oncology and immunology products. Prior to this, Tony held several leadership positions, including founding CSO at Moderna Therapeutics where he developed and invented much of the foundational science behind their revolutionary mRNA platform, CSO at Tolerx, Inc and VP of Research at Alnylam. He currently serves on the boards of etherna and Chimeron Bio and is also an advisor to MiNA Therapeutics. Tony holds a PhD in Immunology from Harvard University and a BSc in Microbiology & Immunology from McGill University.
Alex Blyth, Chief Executive Officer of LIfT BioSciences commented: “On behalf of LIfT’s Board of Directors, I am pleased to welcome Tony to the Company as Chairman. Tony has extremely relevant experience, having played a key role in successfully bringing three new drug modalities to the market, extensive experience in immuno-oncology, and has helped build several multi-billion-dollar companies from start-up stage. This wealth of experience will prove invaluable to LIfT as we prepare to move into clinical trials for our allogeneic first-in-class neutrophil-based immuno-cell therapy and other exciting pipeline developments.”
Antonin (Tony) De Fougerolles, Chairman of the Board commented: “I’m delighted to join LIfT at such a crucial stage in its journey. The team at LIfT have been leading the field in characterising and developing an immuno-oncology therapeutics platform around a newly described subset of neutrophils called Immuno-Modulatory Alpha Neutrophils (IMANs). These IMANs dramatically outperform traditional neutrophils in their tumour killing abilities by rapidly infiltrating tumours and recruiting additional immune cells. As an immunologist, it is not a surprise that neutrophils like other immune cell types are also comprised of subsets of cells with different functions. I look forward to using my varied experience to support Alex and the team to advance LIfT’s IMANs through the clinic towards the market as a new transformational therapy for solid tumours.”