People
Amphivena Names Ruegg as President and CEO
4 December 2019 - - US-based clinical stage immuno-oncology company Amphivena Therapeutics, Inc has hired Curtis L. Ruegg, Ph.D. as its new president and chief executive officer and will also sit on the company's board of directors, the company said.

The company's founder and current president and chief executive officer, Jeanmarie Guenot, Ph.D., will transition into an Advisory role.

Ruegg joins Amphivena from Parvus Therapeutics, where he was president and chief executive officer. With more than 25 years of biopharmaceutical experience, he brings strong drug development expertise to Amphivena.

Prior to Parvus, Ruegg filled various leadership roles at Revance, CoTherix, Intermune, AP Cells and Dendreon.

AMV564 is a bivalent, bispecific T cell engager that binds CD33 and CD3.

The company announced in October initiation of a Phase 1 trial to evaluate the effect of AMV564 on these immune suppressive cells and the potential therapeutic benefit of relieving this important source of T cell suppression in patients with solid tumors.

To date, over 50 patients have received AMV564 in two Phase 1 clinical trials for acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.

It is also currently being evaluated in a First-in-Human Phase 1 trial in patients with relapsed/refractory AML at Washington University School of Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

The safety, efficacy and selectivity of AMV564 was highlighted most recently at both the 24th European Hematology Association meeting in Amsterdam and at the 60th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Diego, CA last December.

Amphivena said it believes that AMV564 has demonstrated novel clinical activity by rapidly and selectively eliminating leukemic blasts and rare immature, granulocytic and monocytic MDSCs while sparing normal CD33-expressing cells, including neutrophils and monocytes.

Amphivena Therapeutics is an immuno-oncology company based in South San Francisco, CA that is developing best-in-class T cell engagers for cancer.

The company's lead therapeutic candidate, AMV564, is a bivalent, bispecific CD33/CD3 T cell engager that potently and selectively eliminates leukemic blasts and myeloid derived suppressor cells, sparing normal myeloid cells (e.g., neutrophils and monocytes).

AMV564 has an excellent safety profile that enables competitive approaches, including combination therapy, and provides a unique opportunity to explore the role of MDSC in solid tumors.

Amphivena has raised USD 88.5m to date in series A, B and C venture financings led by NanoDimension, Qiming Venture Partners USA, MPM Capital and funds managed by Tekla Capital Management LLC.
Login
Username:

Password: