Engimmune Therapeutics AG, a Switzerland-based biotech company developing novel T-cell receptor (TCR)-based therapeutics, announced on Tuesday the appointment of Dr Annalisa D'Andrea to its board of directors as a non-executive director as of June 1, 2023.

The company said that Dr D'Andrea has over 25 years of experience in the life-science industry, including immunology research, drug discovery and development, and strategic leadership in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. She is a Venture Partner at Longwood Fund and is the former president and chief scientific officer of ImmuneID. Before ImmuneID she was the chief scientific officer of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals and was previously vice president and global head of Discovery for Immunology and Inflammation at Roche, where she oversaw the discovery pipeline of drug candidates from inception to the clinic.

Dr D'Andrea received her Bachelor of Sciences, summa cum laude from the University of Siena in Italy, and her doctoral degree from the University of Florence while training at the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her postdoctoral studies at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.

Bent Jakobsen, Ph.D., chairman of Engimmune's board of directors, said: 'We are delighted to welcome Dr Annalisa D'Andrea to the board with her extensive proven experience of managing and growing novel healthcare start-up companies, developing important treatments to help patients. Her expertise and significant drug discovery experience will be invaluable as we continue to further develop our novel pipeline of soluble, multi-specific T cell receptor therapies.'