11 January 2018 - - US-based clinical stage biotechnology company BioClin Therapeutics, Inc. has appointed Graeme Currie, Ph.D. as chief operating officer and Esteban (Steve) Abella, M.D. as chief medical officer, the company said.
Currie has over 25 years of drug development experience in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, having held senior leadership roles at Dynavax Technologies Corp., Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Sepracor Inc., and PDL Biopharma.
Graeme Currie was most recently vice president of clinical science and operations at Dynavax Technologies Corp. Prior to that, he spent six years at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals as the vice president of clinical project management and operations and oversaw operations for 16 molecules and multiple therapeutic areas.
Currie received a BSc from the University of Salford, and a Ph.D. in oncology from Aston University.
Abella has been actively involved in cancer clinical trials research for nearly 30 years, most recently at Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Amgen, Inc.
At Gilead Sciences Inc., Abella was a senior director leading non-hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia efforts, as well as serving as a core member of the oncology senior leadership team.
Prior to that, he served as the executive director at Amgen Inc., predominately responsible for the white cell franchise (Neulasta/Neupogen) global development efforts across clinical research and medical affairs.
Abella completed his fellowship and residency training at Wayne State University School of Medicine after graduating with a degree in medicine from the Universidad Central del Este. He attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergraduate studies.
Privately-held BioClin is developing biologics to address medical conditions in areas of high unmet need. The company is focused on FGFR3 (fibroblast growth factor receptor 3), a driver mutation in metastatic bladder cancer and potentially other cancers.
The company's lead program, B-701, is the only targeted biologic specific for FGFR3 in clinical development.
BioClin has ongoing clinical studies in metastatic bladder cancer using multiple therapeutic approaches (as B-701 monotherapy, and in combination therapies with standard-of-care chemotherapy, as well as with pembrolizumab, an immune checkpoint inhibitor).