Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX)

Company Profile

Prescient Therapeutics (ASX:PTX) develop novel, personalised therapies for a range of cancers.

Prescient’s CAR-T and targeted therapies are personalised medicine approaches that aim to improve patient outcomes.

Prescient has a broad pipeline of personalised cancer treatments, comprising CAR-T and targeted therapies, for a range of different cancers. Prescient has licensed technologies from and in collaboration with world-leading cancer centers in the US and Australia.

Prescient Therapeutics is working to rapidly expand the application of universal CAR-T therapies, capable of addressing all cancers, including solid tumours.

OmniCAR, a universal CAR-T platform employing technology licensed from UPenn, the pioneer and world leader in CAR-T, as well as Oxford University, will allow unprecedented control and flexibility over current generation CAR-T approaches. It combines the cancer-killing capabilities of a T-cell with the control and pharmacology of a drug.

CellPryme-M is a high-performance platform for enhancing cell therapy manufacturing that results in cell products with superior phenotypes that are longer lasting and more efficacious. It involves a single, rapid step that can be easily accommodated within standard cell manufacturing protocols. CellPryme-M was developed by Prescient in collaboration with the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, with Prescient retaining whole ownership of intellectual property.

Further to this, Prescient is working with leading CAR-T innovators to develop other improved CAR-T approaches.

KEY PEOPLE

Steven Yatomi-Clarke, CEO and Managing Director

Steven Yatomi-Clarke, CEO and Managing Director

Steven took over as CEO of Prescient Therapeutics in 2016 and has overseen its progression from start-up phase. Steven manages a team in Australia and the US and has been instrumental in strategy development; licensing; initiating and managing clinical trials; fundraising and business development.
Previously, Steven had a distinguished career as an investment banker specialising in the life sciences sector, where he was consistently one of the country’s most prolific bankers, involved in primary and secondary offerings, corporate advisory and M&A assignments. In particular, Steven leveraged his combined backgrounds in science and finance to identify undervalued and unlikely opportunities and structure deals for the mutual benefit of companies and investors.
Steven holds a Bachelor of Science with an Honours Degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and a Bachelor Commerce majoring in Economics, both from the University of Melbourne. He has been a collaborator on various immunotherapy research projects.
Steve Engle, Non-Executive Chairman

Steve Engle, Non-Executive Chairman

Steven Engle is CEO of CohBar, a clinical stage biotechnology company focused on the development of mitochondrial based therapeutics, an emerging class of drugs for the treatment of age-related diseases and extending healthy lifespan. Previously, he was CEO of Averigon, an advisory firm to the life science industry. Prior to that, he was Chairman and CEO of XOMA, a developer of antibody therapeutics of multiple diseases, and Chairman and CEO of La Jolla Pharmaceutical Company, which discovered the biology of B cell tolerance, developed the first B cell toleragen for lupus patients, and received an approvable letter from the FDA.
Mr. Engle served as VP of Marketing for Cygnus, a drug delivery company, where he helped gain FDA approval of and launch Nicotrol for smoking cessation. Mr. Engle is a member of the board of AROA, a developer and marketer of regenerative products, and of Author-it Software Corporation, a developer of authoring information solutions for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. He is a former director of industry associations, BIO, BayBio and BIOCOM.
Mr. Engle holds M.S.E.E. and B.S.E.E. degrees from the University of Texas with a focus in biomedical engineering.

Dr James Campbell, Non-Executive Director

Dr James Campbell, Non-Executive Director

Dr James Campbell brings to Prescient a solid track record as a scientist and commercial executive. Dr. Campbell has more than 20 years of international biotechnology research, management and leadership experience and has been involved in the creation and/or transformation of multiple successful Australian and international biotechnology companies.
He is currently CEO of Patrys Limited, a company developing novel antibody therapeutics for oncology.
He was previously the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Chemgenex, which was acquired by Cephalon for $230 million in 2011. His responsibilities ranged from IP management to licensing and business development and as a member of the executive team, he helped steer and transform the company from a $10 million research based entity to a company with completed clinical trials and regulatory dossiers submitted to the FDA and EMA before its $230 million sale.
Dr Campbell also has experience advising private biotechnology companies in the US and New Zealand with capital raisings and partnering negotiations.

Dr Allen Ebens, Non-Executive Director

Dr Allen Ebens, Non-Executive Director

Allen Ebens, Ph.D. brings over twenty four years of drug development experience in oncology and hematology, beginning in drug discovery at Exelixis before moving to Genentech where over 11 years he worked from concept to clinic across multiple therapeutic platforms including antibodies, small molecule drugs, antibody-drug conjugates, and T cell recruiting antibodies.
Dr. Ebens was recruited from Genentech to establish oncology discovery research at Juno Therapeutics (a CAR-T pioneer), and served as Senior Director, Immune Oncology at NGM Biopharmaceuticals.
He is currently Chief Scientific Officer of Vera Therapeutics. Dr. Ebens’ scientific contributions include numerous peer-reviewed publications of original research, a significant patent portfolio, and the advancement of nine discovery projects from initial concept to clinical development for multiple targets including one marketed therapeutic. He completed his PhD at UCLA and postdoctoral training at UCSF.

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