NEWTON, Mass., Aug. 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Auron Therapeutics, a platform-based, product-driven biotechnology company focused on developing novel cancer therapies that target cellular plasticity, today announced the members of its scientific advisory board (SAB), comprised of distinguished physician-scientists, clinical investigators, and research & development veterans from world-leading cancer centers and biopharmaceutical companies. The most recent addition, Charles M. Rudin M.D., Ph.D., is the Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). The SAB collaborates with Auron’s leadership to provide strategic guidance, as the company advances its proprietary platform and its research programs for both solid tumors and hematologic malignancies.
“Our scientific advisors are some of the most renowned international minds in oncology drug discovery and development, which speaks to the importance of our unique approach to cancer drug discovery and development,” said Kate Yen, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of Auron. “Together, they have an incredible wealth of knowledge and expertise that we can apply to maximize the power of our multi-omic platform and enable the potential of therapies targeting cellular plasticity in a range of cancers. This is an exciting time at Auron. We are honored to benefit from their expansive contributions to the field of oncology and appreciate their guidance as we advance our efforts to deliver transformational therapies for patients in need.”
Auron’s proprietary platform is a multi-omic, AI-powered platform that combines computational and translational biology to understand the drivers of two hallmarks of cancer: cellular plasticity and dysregulated differentiation in cancer cells. Leveraging its platform, Auron aims to identify novel targets paired with patient selection and efficacy biomarkers, and ultimately, small molecule product candidates that target the drivers of altered cellular plasticity.
“We have seen tremendous innovation in oncology over the last decade, including the advent of personalized targeted therapies and immunotherapy. However, we continue to struggle with acquired resistance to these therapies,” said Dr. Rudin, Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service, Co-Director of the Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research, and Sylvia Hassenfeld Chair in Lung Cancer Research at MSK. “I am impressed by the sophistication of Auron’s platform, analyzing the plasticity of cancer cells as a key resistance mechanism. Auron is taking a distinct approach that is defining promising targets not previously identified or addressed. I am delighted to partner with the SAB, Kate and the Auron team, to maximize the full potential of this platform, with the ultimate goal of bringing forward more durably effective treatment options for our patients.”
Auron’s Scientific Advisory Board Members
Stéphane de Botton, M.D.
Dr. de Botton is a physician, clinical investigator and head of drug development in acute leukemias in the Department of Hematology at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France. He also belongs to the research unit UMR 1170 for novel preclinical research. He is a member of the executive board of the Acute Leukemia French Association (ALFA) that focuses on the clinical and translational research in adult acute myeloid leukemia.
Richard Chesworth, Ph.D.
Dr. Chesworth is an entrepreneur in residence at Third Rock Ventures, focused on building new drug discovery and development companies. He has contributed to the research and development of thirteen different compounds entering clinical trials, resulting in two FDA-approved new molecular entities, including TAZVERIK® for the treatment of both epithelioid sarcoma and relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma. Dr. Chesworth previously served as chief scientific officer at Kymera Therapeutics, head of chemistry and senior vice president of research at Epizyme, head of chemistry at EnVivo, and principal scientist at Surface Logix and Pfizer.
Ross L. Levine, M.D., Co-founder
Dr. Levine is a member of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and an attending physician on the Leukemia Service, Department of Medicine, the Laurence Joseph Dineen Chair in Leukemia Research with Special Emphasis on Leukemia in Children and Young People, Deputy Physician-In-Chief, Translational Research at MSK, and a professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. His laboratory has identified myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) predisposition alleles and characterized somatic genetic and epigenetic alterations in MPN and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients, which has led to new mechanism-based therapies. In 2011, Dr. Levine was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and in 2018 to the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Levine is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Dameshek Prize from the American Society for Hematology, a Scholar Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Boyer Award for clinical investigation from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and an NCI Outstanding Investigator Award.
Charles M. Rudin, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Rudin is a medical oncologist at MSK specializing in the care of patients with lung cancer. He is the Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service, Co-Director of the Druckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research, and Sylvia Hassenfeld Professor and Chair in Lung Cancer Research at MSK. Dr. Rudin also has chaired the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Small Cell Lung Cancer Research Consortium since its inception in 2015. He directs a broad program of therapeutic research, including preclinical and clinical investigations to identify and test novel therapeutic approaches to small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Rudin is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including an NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, the NCI Director’s Service Award, and the Paul Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer.
Mikhail (Misha) Roshal, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Roshal is a practicing hematopathologist, associate attending physician, and Director of the Clinical Flow Cytometry Laboratory in the Department of Pathology at MSK. His major clinical expertise is in development of robust flow cytometry-based assays for assessment of treatment response of hematologic neoplasms. Dr. Roshal’s research interests are in molecular genetic characterization of treatment resistant and rare disease populations and in defining molecular genetic triggers of lineage infidelity and unusual differentiation pathways in acute leukemia.
Kimberly Stegmaier, M.D.
Dr. Stegmaier is a professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Ted Williams Chair at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and has advanced the application of genomics to drug and protein target discovery for pediatric malignancies. She is the Vice Chair for Pediatric Oncology Research, Co-director of the Pediatric Hematologic Malignancy Program, and an attending physician providing clinical care in Pediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Stegmaier is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. She has served as a Council Member with the Society for Pediatric Research and as the Chair for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Pediatric Cancer Working Group. Dr. Stegmaier is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement from the American Society of Hematology.
Eytan M. Stein, M.D., Co-founder
Dr. Stein is the Chief of Leukemia Service in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies, associate attending physician, clinical investigator and Director of the Program for Drug Development in Leukemia at MSK. He conducts novel Phase 1 clinical trials of compounds that target the genetic and epigenetic basis of myeloid malignancies and serves as the lead investigator at MSK for the BEAT AML master clinical trial. Dr. Stein led the clinical trials of IDHIFA® and TIBSOVO®, isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) inhibitors, in patients with relapsed and refractory AML that led to their FDA approvals.
Shin-San Michael Su, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael Su is a pioneering biotech leader with deep expertise in drug discovery and translational medicine. He served as Chief Scientific Officer of Volastra Therapeutics and as Chief Scientific Officer of Decibel Therapeutics. Before that, Dr. Su was a Co-founder and Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he led the team responsible for identifying the oncogenic cause of IDH mutants in cancer and the discovery of IDHIFA® and TIBSOVO®, FDA-approved treatments for AML with IDH mutations. He served as General Director and Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratory at ITRI in Taiwan and spent 14 years in scientific leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, concluding his tenure as Program Executive and Vice President of the Novartis-Vertex kinase collaboration.
George Thomas, M.D.
Dr. Thomas is a professor of Pathology at the Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon, and Associate Medical Director of the Knight Diagnostics Laboratory. His clinical area of expertise is in precision oncology of prostate and kidney cancers. Dr. Thomas directs a translational research program that studies treatment induced metabolic reprogramming in these cancers, with the goal of developing new combination therapies.
Matthew Vander Heiden, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder
Dr. Vander Heiden is a professor in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Director of the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and an Instructor in Medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Using a combination of biochemistry, molecular biology and mouse models, the aim of the Vander Heiden laboratory is to understand how metabolism influences different stages of tumor biology with a goal to improve cancer treatment in the clinic.
Paresh Vyas, MRCP FRCP FRCPath
Dr. Vyas is a professor of Hematology at Oxford University, and a research-consulting Hematologist with a clinical practice in myeloid disorders (MDS, AML and MPD) and allogeneic stem cell transplant at the MRC Molecular Haematology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford. He is Co-lead of the Oxford BRC Hematology and Stem Cells Theme, is on the Board of NHSBT, Vice-chair of the MRC Clinical Training Panel and Translational Lead for the UK Therapy Acceleration Program.
About Auron Therapeutics
Auron Therapeutics is a platform-based, product-driven biotechnology company focused on developing therapies that target cellular plasticity for solid tumor cancers and hematological malignancies. Auron has built a proprietary AI-powered platform that integrates large, multi-omic datasets to rapidly compare tumor tissue to normal tissues and enable a systems-biology understanding of the pathways that are associated with tumor plasticity, dysregulated differentiation, and treatment resistance. For more information, please visit www.aurontx.com.
Contact:
Monique Allaire
THRUST Strategic Communications
monique@thrustsc.com
