Imugene Ltd (IMU)
Company Deep Dive
Imugene is a clinical stage immuno-oncology company developing a range of new treatments that seek to activate the immune system of cancer patients to identify and eradicate tumors.
Their mission is to develop transformative cancer medicines to improve patients’ lives and to establish value and trust with stakeholders.
Imugene’s unique platform technologies seek to harness the body’s immune system against tumours, potentially achieving a similar or greater effect than synthetically manufactured monoclonal antibody and other immunotherapies.
Why Invest in IMU?
Established by Paul Hopper, veteran bioentrepreneur
Robust Pipeline of Immuno oncology products
Highly experienced team in oncolytic virus and cellular therapies
Focus on breakthrough technology to harness body’s immune response
Strategic partnership with Celularity on CD19 CART
People
Leadership
Leslie Chong
Ms Chong has over 23 years of oncology experience in Phase I – III of clinical program development, including leadership role involvement in four marketed oncology products. She was previously Senior Clinical Program Lead at Genentech, Inc., in San Francisco. Genentech is widely regarded as one of the world’s most successful biotech companies with a strong oncology franchise including the best-selling breast cancer drug Herceptin.
Paul Hopper
Mr. Hopper has extensive international & ASX biotech capital markets experience particularly in immuno-oncology & vaccines. He is the Founder and Chairman of Imugene, Founder & Chairman of Chimeric Therapeutics, Chairman of Arovella Therapeutics, Former Chairman of Viralytics and Founder & Director of Prescient.
Dr Axel Hoos
- CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics
- Former Senior Vice President and Head of Oncology at GSK
- Former Medical Lead for Yervoy, the first immuno-oncology treatment to improve first survival .
- Board of Director of TCR2 Therapeutics in Boston
- Chairman of the Sabin Vaccine Institute
- Co-Chair of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium Think-Tank
Charles Walker
- Experienced listed biotech CEO and CFO (ASX:ACL and ASX:IMU)
- Extensive financial markets experience having executed 50+ cross border transactions
- Clinical experience includes managing pipeline of drugs in all stages from discovery, through to Phase III to product launch
- CEO, Founder and NED of RedEarth Energy Storage
Dr Lesley Russell
Dr Lesley Russell has more than 25 years of international operational and leadership experience with a number of established and emerging pharmaceutical companies across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology and haematology.
Dr Lesley Russell
Non-Executive Director
Dr Lesley Russell has more than 25 years of international operational and leadership experience with a number of established and emerging pharmaceutical companies across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology and haematology.
Her experience has been gained at a number of leading companies including, Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN), Eli Lilly (NASDAQ: LLY), US Bioscience/Medimmune Oncology, Cephalon Inc (NASDAQ: CEPH), Teva Pharmacaeuticals (NASDAQ: TEVA), TetraLogic and Innocoll Holdings Plc.
Dr Lesley Russell is currently a Non-executive Director of AMAG Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:AMAG), Enanta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ENTA) and Sojournix a privately held biotechnology company. Dr. Lesley Russell was a non-executive director of Endocyte Pharmaceuticals Inc until its acquisition by Novartis in December, 2018.
Dr Jens Eckstein
Dr Jens Eckstein is an established international venture investor and active mentor of life science entrepreneurs and start-up teams.
Jens is currently Managing Partner of Apollo Ventures a venture firm focusing on age-related diseases and health span. Before joining Apollo he was president of SROne for eight years.
Dr Jens Eckstein
Non-Executive Director
Dr Jens Eckstein is an established international venture investor and active mentor of life science entrepreneurs and start-up teams.
Jens is currently Managing Partner of Apollo Ventures a venture firm focusing on age-related diseases and health span. Before joining Apollo he was president of SROne for eight years. SR One is the corporate venture capital arm of global pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline which invests in emerging life science companies pursuing innovative science with significant impact on medical care and patients.
Jens is also a founder and co-founder of several innovative life science and health care information technology companies as well as being the creator of OneStart, the world’s largest life science and healthcare start-up accelerator program.
Dr Eckstein brings more than 15 years of venture capital funding of earlier-stage biopharmaceutical companies, technology transfer, operational and research management experience in drug discovery and biotechnology.He has served on the boards of several listed and private biotechnology companies including Palleon Pharma, Gladius Pharmaceuticals and Decibel Therapeutics.
He has served on the boards of ZappRx, Thrasos Therapeutics and Alios Biopharma (acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2014).Jens is a Kaufman Fellow, founder of Action Potential Venture Capital (APVC) and has held senior roles with the trans-Atlantic venture capital firm TVM Capital.
In addition, he holds several issued patents and has authored over 25 scientific publications. He earned his Doctorate, summa cum laude, in Biological Chemistry in at the University of Konstanz and Harvard University.
Management
Monil Shah
Dr. Shah has over 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience in oncology drug development. His most recent appointment was as Chief Development Officer at WindMIL Therapeutics, responsible for the MILs cell therapy platform.
Monil Shah
Chief Business Officer
Dr. Shah has over 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry experience in oncology drug development. His most recent appointment was as Chief Development Officer at WindMIL Therapeutics, responsible for the MILs cell therapy platform. He was the Chief Operating Officer of IRX Therapeutics /Brooklyn ImmunoTherapeutics leading cytokine drug development for oncology patients. Prior to that, he was the Medical Affairs Lead for Immuno-Oncology at Bristol Myers Squibb responsible for checkpoint inhibitor development programs. Dr. Shah also was the Founder and Head of Clinical Development and Operations at Ventrus Biosciences prior to its merger with Assembly Biosciences. Prior to Ventrus, Dr. Shah led the solid tumor development programs and the Clinical Portfolio and Strategic Planning function at Celgene, as well as the Oncology Development and Operations activities at Fibrogen and Novacea. He began his career at Novartis in the Oncology Early Development Group prior to joining the Medical Sciences Group at Amgen. Dr. Shah received his Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy and Doctorate of Pharmacy degrees from Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Dr Nick Ede
Dr Ede has over 25 years’ peptide vaccine and drug development. He was formerly CEO of Adistem and CEO of Mimotopes. Prior to that he was VP Chemistry at Chiron (now Novartis), and has been a Research Fellow at the CRC for Vaccine Technology.
Dr Anthony Good
Dr Good has over 20 years global clinical development experience. He was integral to the development of significant new medicines including Viagra, Revatio, Lipitor, and Somavert. He formerly held roles with Pfizer Global Research and Development, and with Covance Clinical Services.
Bonnie Nixon
Ms Nixon has over eight years of oncology clinical operations experience across Phase I – IV clinical trials. She was formerly a Study Manager for North America at Genentech Inc in San Francisco and brings further experience from various roles at Roche Australia prior.
Treatments
onCARlytics (CF33-CD19)
OnCARlytics is a novel and effective combination immunotherapy utilizing the CF33 oncolytic virus to deliver de novo cell surface expression of CD19 antigen (CF33-CD19) promoting CD19-CAR T cell anti-tumor responses against solid tumors.
The combination immunotherapy, onCARlytics, unleashes a CD19-expressing oncolytic virus CF33-CD19 to target and eradicate solid tumours that are otherwise difficult to treat with CAR T therapy alone.
Oncolytic Virus (CF33)
Oncolytic viruses are naturally occurring, or genetically modified viruses that infect, replicate in and eventually kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Imugene’s oncolytic virus known as CF33, is a chimeric vaccinia derived through a recombination of favourable genetic sequences from multiple pox virus strains to generate a new, safer and more potent virus. A wealth of pre-clinical data shows CF33 is selectively tumor targeting, self-amplifying, minimal side effects, effective for both primary and metastic tumors as well as recurrent tumors, synergistic with standard of care therapies and emerging novel therapies, stimulates immune system to recognize the tumours.
B-Cell Immunotherapies
HER-Vaxx is a B-cell immuno-therapy designed to treat tumours that over-express the HER-2/neu receptor, such as gastric, breast, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancers. Developed by leading scientists at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, the immuno-therapy is constructed from several B-cell epitopes derived from the extracellular domain of HER-2/neu. It has been shown in pre-clinical studies and in Phase I/II studies to stimulate a potent polyclonal antibody response to HER-2/neu, a well-known and validated cancer target.
Imugene’s PD-1 B-cell immunotherapy, known as PD1-Vaxx, aims to induce the body to produce polyclonal antibodies that block PD-1 signalling, and thus produce an anticancer effect similar to Keytruda, Opdivo and the other immune checkpoint inhibitor monoclonal antibodies, that have transformed treatment for a range of cancers. PD1-Vaxx has shown encouraging potential in preclinical studies, including outperforming an industry-standard mouse anti-PD-1 antibody in a mouse model of colorectal cancer.
Key Milestones
Historical Milestones
Future Milestones
Investment
Investors
Citicorp Nominees Pty Limited
Richard Mann and Assoc.
Paul Hopper
Executive Chairman of Imugene
Capital Raises
The capital raised will be used to fund Imugene’s clinical trial pipeline through to the end of 2025, with partnering and licensing opportunities and R&D rebates expected to extend the cash runway
Proceeds are expected to fund the Company’s existing clinical programs including the two oncolytic virus clinical candidates through completion of Phase 2 study and to provide working capital.
News
Imugene Receives $6.54 million R&D Tax Incentive
06 Jan 2022
HER-Vaxx Immunotherapy Patent Granted in South Korea
06 Jan 2022
Imugene completes Phase 1a trial of immunotherapy PD1-Vaxx
04 Jan 2022
FDA IND Approval for Oncolytic Virotherapy Vaxina
13 Dec 2021
FDA IND Approval for Phase 2 Clinical Trial of HER-VAXX
13 Dec 2021