Industry veteran, founder of Medivation and serial entrepreneur joins T-Therapeutics to support development of the company’s pipeline of TCR-based immuno-oncology drugs
12 June 2024; Cambridge, England –
T-Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation soluble TCR therapeutics targeting cancer and autoimmune indications, today announces the appointment of biopharma industry veteran Dr David Hung as Chairman of its Board of Directors.
Dr Hung is a hugely successful serial entrepreneur in the oncology space. He founded Medivation in 2003 which was sold to Pfizer for $14.3 billion in 2016. At Medivation, Dr Hung identified, in-licensed and led bench-to-bedside development of enzalutamide (XTANDI®) for advanced prostate cancer, taking it from first in vitro laboratory experiment to FDA approval in seven years, one of the fastest development timelines in pharmaceutical history. XTANDI, approved in more than 60 countries is one of the top cancer drugs by revenue, reaching blockbuster drug status and exceeding $6 billion in global annual sales in 2023.
Prior to founding Medivation, Dr Hung served as President and CEO of ProDuct Health, a venture-backed startup medical device company founded in 1998 that developed, manufactured and commercialized a breast microcatheter – invented by Dr Hung – for breast cancer risk assessment. ProDuct Health was acquired in 2001 for $168 million by Cytyc Corporation.
Dr Hung is currently President and CEO of Nuvation Bio, which he founded in 2018, a late-stage biopharma developing differentiated and novel therapeutic candidates to tackle some of the greatest unmet needs in oncology.
Dr Hung received an A.B. summa cum laude in biology from Harvard College and an M.D. Alpha Omega Alpha from the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine. He completed simultaneous clinical fellowships in hematology, oncology and transfusion medicine as well as two basic science research fellowships in molecular biology at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.
Professor Allan Bradley, CEO of T-Therapeutics, commented:
“Having followed David’s career for many years, I’m delighted that he is joining T-Therapeutics’ Board as Chair. David brings a wealth of scientific, clinical and company building experience to our Board. I look forward to drawing on his deep understanding of drug development in the oncology space, as well as his substantial experience in building biotechnology companies as we work to develop a pipeline of drugs designed to reshape the clinical landscape for cancer patients.”
Dr David Hung, Chairman of T-Therapeutics, also commented:
“I’m excited to work with Allan and his very experienced team to help realise their vision. T-Therapeutics has an unusually strong and unique scientific foundation that is being leveraged to build a pipeline of transformative medicines. The team have an excellent track record of successful development of drugs that leverage immune cell biology. I believe their unique TCR platform has the potential to deliver a pipeline of transformative medicines.”
In November 2023 T-Therapeutics announced a £48m series A fundraise for the development of next-generation TCR therapeutics to transform cancer treatment, led by Sofinnova Partners, F-Prime Capital, Digitalis Ventures and Cambridge Innovation Capital with participation from Sanofi Ventures and the University of Cambridge Venture Fund.
Contacts
T-Therapeutics
Allan Bradley
info@t-therapeutics.com
ICR Consilium
Amber Fennell, Sukaina Virji
t-therapeutics@consilium-comms.com
About T-Therapeutics
T-Therapeutics is a next-generation T cell receptor (TCR) company spun off from the University of Cambridge. The company was created to harness the power of T cell biology, evolved over millions of years, to create safe and effective treatments for many cancers and autoimmune diseases. T-Therapeutics combines world-leading expertise in mouse genome engineering, deep knowledge and experience in biopharmaceutical drug development, single cell genomics, machine-learning and structural biology, anchored in a culture of creativity and collaboration. T-Therapeutics is developing ‘optimal’ TCR based therapeutics using a proprietary OpTiMus® platform, based on a fully humanized TCR mouse that provides an almost unlimited source of unique, antigen-specific human TCRs. These TCRs are directed at multiple target classes, many of which have never been worked on before. The company is developing a pipeline of first-in-class drugs that are intended to become transformative medicines, reshaping the clinical landscape for patients with cancer or autoimmune diseases.
