Onxeo, a clinical-stage biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative drugs targeting tumor DNA damage response (DDR) mechanisms to fight rare or resistant cancers, has announced the appointment of Dr. Shefali Agarwal as Chief Executive Officer.Dr. Agarwal succeeds Julien Miara, director at Invus SAS, who was appointed interim CEO in January 2022.“I have worked closely with Dr. Agarwal in her capacity as Board Chair to grow our company, strengthen our Board of Directors and most importantly, advance our product portfolio.It became very clear to me and the Board that Dr. Agarwal, who has extensive experience in drug development, was the right choice to take on the role of Chief Executive Officer,” said Julien Miara, Chief Executive Officer interim.“She has the expertise to work with our seasoned team to rapidly advance AsiDNA® into the clinic, grow our preclinical product portfolio and provide Onxeo with international visibility, given its visibility with the US investment community.»Dr. Agarwal is a physician by training and was, until recently, Chief Medical and Development Officer at Epizyme, Inc. a biopharmaceutical company developing novel epigenetic therapies for cancer, where she led global clinical development and regulatory strategy.She will remain an advisor to Epizyme while fulfilling her duties at Onxeo.“I am honored to become the Chief Executive Officer of Onxeo and look forward to working more closely with this talented team as we continue to grow the business.Given my broad experience in oncology, I am encouraged by the work we have done at Onxeo and the opportunities generated by our platON® platform,” said Dr. Shefali Agarwal."As we continue to advance AsiDNA®, our first-in-class tumor DNA damage response inhibitor, into the clinic and conduct preclinical proof-of-concept studies with OX401, our novel PARP agonist generation, and its enhanced versions, we will continually seek ways to achieve the best clinical outcomes for patients.I am also pleased to see that we will be refocusing our clinical research efforts on the United States, developing our infrastructure there and expanding our team in Massachusetts, a rapidly expanding biotechnology hub.The new financing obtained from our two main shareholders, who support our vision, will help us achieve our objectives with extended financial visibility until the second quarter of 2023.”Prior to joining Epizyme in 2018, Dr. Agarwal held various leadership positions in medical research, clinical development and operations, and medical affairs.She served as Chief Medical Officer at SQZ Biotech, where she built and led the clinical development organization, which included clinical research operations and the regulatory function.Prior to SQZ Biotech, she held leadership positions at Curis and Tesaro.At Curis, she oversaw the phase 2 study for its dual HDAC/PI3K inhibitor in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and the phase 1 study in solid tumors for its oral checkpoint inhibitor.At Tesaro, she led the US and European marketing applications for ZEJULA® (niraparib) in ovarian cancer.Shefali has also held senior positions at Covidien, AVEO Oncology and Pfizer.In addition to his medical degree, Dr. Agarwal holds a master's degree in public health and a master's degree in business science.Dr. Agarwal is a member of the Board of Directors of three US biotechnology companies, ITB Med (unlisted), Gritstone Bio (NASDAQ: GRTS) and Fate Therapeutics (Nasdaq: FATE).She is also on the Scientific Advisory Board of Imvax, Inc. and is the founder of the Cancer Shakti Foundation, a voluntary nonprofit foundation dedicated to raising awareness of cancer issues.Dr. Robert L. Coleman, Onxeo Board Member and Chief Scientific Officer of US Oncology Research, said, “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Agarwal to Onxeo as Chief Executive Officer.She brings to Onxeo a unique expertise and clinical acumen, based on a successful career in management positions within several biopharmaceutical companies.This experience provides him with a clear vision of unmet clinical needs, therapeutic environment, regulatory processes and funding management, which will be instrumental in driving successful drug development strategy and business growth.It is a great honor for me to work alongside him in order to bring to the clinic therapeutic active ingredients based on a very original mode of action.On behalf of Onxeo's Board of Directors, we welcome Dr. Agarwal to his new leadership role.»Share the post "Onxeo: Dr. Shefali Agarwal appointed as Chief Executive Officer"Domain Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the research and development of innovative immuno-oncology treatments targeting G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), has just announced a Series A fundraising of €39m (US $42m) led by Panacea Venture, CTI Life Sciences and 3B Future Health Fund, joined by adMare BioInnovations, Schroders Capital, Omnes, Turenne Capital, Theodorus, Viva BioInnovator and an existing investor, Seventure Partners.In its latest study, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) reveals in particular significant disparities in access to new drugs for patients in Europe but also within a country.A 90% gap in patient access was found between Northern and Western European countries and Southern and Eastern European countries.BioWin, the health competitiveness cluster of the Walloon Region, has just announced the launch of Urgence Talents, a new initiative aimed at meeting the challenges posed by recruitment in the biotech and medtech industry in Belgium.For the first time, public and private players are joining forces to meet the specific and urgent needs of companies seeking to recruit talent in the biotechnology and health industry sectors.GeNeuro, a biopharmaceutical company developing new treatments for neurodegenerative and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the severe neuropsychiatric consequences of COVID-19 (post-COVID), has announced that it has received authorization from the Swiss Health Authority (Swissmedic) to launch a phase II study evaluating temelimab in patients with severe post-COVID neuropsychiatric syndromes.Sanofi announced that the results of a pre-specified analysis of pooled data from the pivotal Phase III MELODY trial and Phase IIb trials of nirsevimab showed an efficacy (relative risk reduction compared to placebo) of 79.5 % (95 CI: 65.9 to 87.7; p<0.0001) against lower respiratory tract infections requiring medical management, such as bronchiolitis or pneumonia, caused by RSV in infants born in term or late premature at the start of their first season of RSV1 circulation.Biotech TheraVectys has just demonstrated the efficacy of its lentiviral vaccine candidate Lenti-COVID in animals, administered as a booster dose nasally, six months after the primary vaccination with a messenger RNA vaccine.Share the post “TheraVectys has developed the 1st intranasal Lenti-Covid vaccine candidate generating effective immunity” FacebookTwitterGoogle+E-mailNoxxon Pharma, a biotechnology company specializing in the development of improved cancer treatments targeting the tumor microenvironment (MET), has announced the appointment of two leading brain cancer experts to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).Every Monday, our free newsletter