Cambridge, UK, October 12, 2023 – Mestag Therapeutics (“Mestag”), a biotech company harnessing new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions to develop impactful treatments for patients, today announced the appointment of expert advisors Dr. Cassandra Choe-Juliak MD, formerly Chief Medical Officer at Flame Biosciences; Dr. Greg Elson, an expert in end-to-end development of novel antibody-based products with more than 30 years of industry experience; and Samantha Vieira MBA PMP, formerly Chief Operating Officer at Anjarium Biosciences.
Each newly appointed advisor further strengthens Mestag’s experienced team of drug developers and brings world-leading expertise in translating innovative science into clinically meaningful benefit for patients. Collectively, Dr. Choe-Juliak, Dr. Elson and Ms Vieira have played significant roles in multiple clinical trials across indications, particularly solid tumors including lung, breast and colorectal cancer.
“Mestag is honored to appoint Dr. Choe-Juliak, Dr. Elson and Ms Vieira to our advisory team. Each brings an outstanding track record in their field, and we are delighted to welcome them to Mestag at an important stage in our development as we progress towards clinic,” said Susan Hill, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Mestag Therapeutics. “As members of our advisory team, they will play a key role in guiding Mestag as we leverage our unique understanding of fibroblast-immune biology to urgently advance our first-in-class antibody programs.”
Cassandra Choe-Juliak, MD, MS, has spent more than 17 years in oncology medical affairs and clinical drug development. She was Chief Medical Officer at Flame Biosciences, acquired by Leap Therapeutics in January 2023. At Karyopharm, Dr. Choe-Juliak was Head of Development for the multiple myeloma and sarcoma programs, leading the development program for selinexor, a first-in-class XPO inhibitor that was ultimately approved via accelerated approval in multiple myeloma. She was previously Head of Clinical Development at Affimed, responsible for clinical-stage innate (NK-) cell bispecific engagers, leading AFM13 from Phase 1 to a registration-directed program, and developing first-in-human monotherapy and combination trials for AFM24 in EGFR-associated cancers. Other companies Dr. Choe-Juliak has worked for include Ipsen, Merck, AVEO Oncology and Celgene. She received a BA from Georgetown University and an MS in Pharmacology/Toxicology along with her MD from Medical College of Virginia.
Greg Elson, PhD, is co-founder and managing partner at Prevail Biopharma Solutions, and Chief Technology Officer at Alentis Therapeutics. Previous industry roles include AMAL Therapeutics (Boehringer Ingelheim), Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, NovImmune, Pierre Fabre and Glaxo Biomedical Research Institute. He specialises in end-to-end development of novel monoclonal, bispecific, multispecific and biosimilar antibody-based products. Dr. Elson has a proven track record of successful regulatory submissions for multiple products (monoclonal, bispecific and biosimilar antibodies) at various stages of development. Dr. Elson has a PhD in Molecular Immunology, and more than 50 publications in peer-reviewed journals covering bioprocessing sciences and immunological research (toll-like receptors, cytokine-cytokine receptors, Ig regulation). He has numerous patents filed in the fields of bioprocessing sciences and immunological research.
Samantha Vieira, MBA PMP, brings 18 years of broad experience in the biopharmaceutical industry, spanning early-to-late stage R&D and pre-launch planning, within roles across program management, cross-functional leadership, strategy and operations. Mostly recently she was COO at Anjarium Bioscience, a Swiss-based non-viral gene therapy company. Prior to that she was Global Product Development and Commercial Lead at Biogen, and VP Program Management at Nightstar Therapeutics before its acquisition by Biogen. She has a strong track record of driving the development of integrated strategy and its execution across teams and development phases. Samantha holds an EMBA from Henley Business School and BSc (Honours) in Physiology from University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
About Mestag Therapeutics
Mestag harnesses new insights into fibroblast-immune interactions to develop impactful treatments for patients. We are progressing a pipeline of sophisticated first-in-class antibodies designed to improve the lives of patients with cancer and inflammatory disease. Together with our collaboration partner Janssen Biotech, Inc. we are also identifying novel targets for future therapies.
Our founding investigators comprise global experts in inflammatory disease, cancer, computational biology and fibroblast biology from the University of Oxford, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. We are supported by leading life science investors SV Health Investors, Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC, Inc., Forbion, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Northpond Ventures.
Mestag is headquartered in Cambridge, UK, and in 2021 was recognized on the Fierce 15 list of innovative biotechnology companies.
For further information please visit our website www.mestagtherapeutics.com