Tacalyx appoints Jean Engela as Chief Executive Officer for the next phase of growth
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Tacalyx, a privately held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of novel anti-TACA (Tumor Associated Carbohydrate Antigens) cancer therapies, announces the appointment of Jean Engela as Chief Executive Officer. Jean Engela brings more than two decades of experience in drug discovery and development. He has a proven track record of leading organizations and projects through critical stages of development, including scaling, from early research to clinical trials. The company's co-founder and former CEO, Dr. Peter Sondermann, will continue to drive scientific innovation at Tacalyx as Chief Scientific Officer.
"We are delighted to welcome Jean as our new Chief Executive Officer. With his remarkable combination of international experience, biotech vision and leadership skills, Jean is ideally suited to lead our next phase of growth. We would like to thank our co-founder Peter Sondermann, whose leadership has been instrumental to Tacalyx's success. Peter can now fully focus on the further development of our R&D strategy. This leadership transition supports our evolution as a biotech company that will drive innovation and impact on a larger scale," said Klaus Schollmeier, Chairman of the Tacalyx Advisory Board.
Prior to joining Tacalyx, Jean was CEO and board member of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) pioneer NBE Therapeutics, where he led the organization's evolution from a start-up to an established biotech company with a diversified ADC pipeline. Prior to NBE Therapeutics, Jean Engela was Executive Drug Development Leader at Boehringer Ingelheim and was responsible for the global development of oncology and immunology programs, including small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, multispecific antibodies and T-cell engagers (TCEs). He also led the integration of NBE Therapeutics into Boehringer Ingelheim's R&D organization. His extensive experience in guiding companies through the transition from research to clinical stage will be critical to Tacalyx's next chapter of growth.
Jean Engela, CEO of Tacalyx, commented: "It is a great pleasure to lead Tacalyx as we continue to gain momentum and evolve into a clinical stage biotech company. Tacalyx combines the essential ingredients for success - breakthrough science, a dedicated management team and strong investor support. In the coming months, we look forward to achieving important value-enhancing milestones and initiating IND-preparatory studies for our lead program. This will set the stage to deliver real therapeutic value for patients with solid tumors."
Under Jean's leadership, Tacalyx will build on its extensive expertise to advance programs into the clinic. Tacalyx is a pioneer in the development of targeted therapeutics that selectively bind to tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens (TACAs) that are not found in differentiated healthy tissue. Anti-TACA antibodies can be developed into various treatment modalities, including ADCs, TCEs and multispecific antibodies. With its unique toolset and deep expertise in glycan biology and chemistry, Tacalyx has developed a pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class compounds targeting various TACAs in multiple solid tumor indications. The most advanced compound, TCX-201, is in preclinical development close to the start of IND-preparatory studies paving the way for clinical development.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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