8 August 2018 - - US-based immunotherapies developer Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALPN) has appointed life sciences veteran Mark Litton, Ph.D. to the role of president and chief operating officer, the company said.

Litton joins Alpine from Alder BioPharmaceuticals, where he has served as chief business officer and treasurer since co-founding the company in 2004.

At Alder BioPharmaceuticals, Litton oversaw the company's business operations, including playing an integral role in Alder's initial public offering and subsequent financings, as well as high-profile collaborations and partnerships. Prior to co-founding Alder BioPharmaceuticals,

Litton served as vice president of Business Development at Celltech Group, where he was responsible for securing, commercializing, and partnering numerous novel discoveries and therapeutic programs.

He joined Celltech as part of Chiroscience Group plc and was later named vice president of Business Development upon Chiroscience's merger with Celltech in 1999.

Earlier, Litton served as manager of business development for Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now Sirna Therapeutics, Inc.), where he played a key role in developing the company's relationships with Eli Lilly and Company, Roche Biosciences, and GlaxoWellcome plc (now GlaxoSmithKline plc).

Prior to that, Dr. Litton was a research associate at DNAX Research Institute, a research facility of Schering-Plough (now Merck and Co.).

Alpine Immune Sciences, Inc. is focused on developing novel protein-based immunotherapies using its proprietary Variant Ig Domain technology. Alpine's proprietary scientific platform is designed to interact with multiple targets, including many present in the immune synapse.

Alpine's vIgDs are developed using a process known as directed evolution, which produces proteins capable of either enhancing or diminishing an immune response and thereby may potentially apply therapeutically to cancer, autoimmune/inflammatory and other diseases.

Alpine has also developed Transmembrane Immunomodulatory Protein technology, based on the vIgD technology, to potentially enhance engineered cellular therapies.