Immunitas Therapeutics, a US-based clinical stage precision immunotherapy company that says it is discovering and developing novel, differentiated therapeutics for patients with cancer, announced on Monday the appointment of James Wooldridge, MD, as chief medical officer (CMO).

The company also announced that it will present new data supporting continued clinical development of its lead program IMT-009 for solid tumours and haematological malignancies at the 65th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition (ASH 2023).

In the CMO role, the company says that Dr Wooldridge will leverage his extensive oncology therapeutic development experience to support clinical advancement strategy for Immunitas' pipeline of highly differentiated, antibody-based immuno-oncology assets, including lead candidate IMT-009. Dr Wooldridge has served as Acting CMO since June 2023 and has been an advisor to the company since October 2022.

"We are pleased to announce Jim's appointment as our chief medical officer as we continue progressing toward our goal of providing groundbreaking therapeutic solutions for patients with cancer," said Amanda Wagner, Immunitas chief executive officer.

"Over the past year advising Immunitas he has provided invaluable expertise, drawing from his extensive breadth of experience in immuno-oncology development to support advancement of our evolving pipeline. We are delighted to have him on board as our CMO as we continue clinical development of IMT-009 and progress our portfolio of highly differentiated immuno-oncology biologics."

Dr Wooldridge has more than 20 years of experience in clinical oncology research and drug development spanning the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and academic sectors. He previously served as the chief medical officer at Checkmate Pharmaceuticals leading up to the company's acquisition by Regeneron. Additionally, he held the role of chief medical officer at Aeglea BioTherapeutics, where he oversaw development of enzyme-based treatments for rare genetic diseases and cancer.