The biotech company Ona Therapeutics, a member of CATALONIA.HEALTH, announced key leadership appointments in their leadership team to support its rapid growth and pipeline advancement. Aleix Prat, a global leader in drug and biomarker development, has been appointed as Chair of the Advisory Board. Additionally, Jutta Amersdorffer has joined as Chief Medical Officer and Stéphane Durant des Aulnois as Chief Financial Officer. These appointments come to accelerates the development of its first-in-class ADC therapeutics, targeting novel tumor-specific markers to eliminate hard-to-treat, resistant cancer cells and advance its pipeline toward clinical development across multiple cancer types.
Ona is developing a pipeline of ADCs tailored to exploit the molecular underpinnings of advanced cancer. Ona’s unique strategy is enabled by analysing scarce real-world patient biopsies to uncover novel therapeutic targets that are fundamental to the biology of treatment-refractory advanced cancer. Its lead ADC, ONA-255, is advancing through IND-enabling studies to initiate clinical development by the end of 2025. In parallel, Ona is developing ONA-389, a second ADC that is positioned for the treatment of advanced microsatellite stable (MSS) colon and liver cancers. This promising therapeutic is set to begin IND-enabling studies in the second half of 2025.
Aleix Prat, an internationally recognized leader in precision oncology with an outstanding track record in cancer research, biomarker development, and clinical trials, in collaboration with Ona’s Advisor, Roger Gomis, has been instrumental in identifying the target of ONA-255 and functionally validating it, working alongside the expert team at Ona. Their combined efforts have generated critical preclinical data to support the clinical development of ONA-255.
Aleix Prat commented, “Ona’s cutting-edge technology has the potential to redefine treatments for aggressive and refractory cancers. As a strong advocate for precision oncology, I am committed to driving the development of novel, targeted therapies that improve patient outcomes. I am honoured to contribute my expertise to this groundbreaking innovation.”
Valerie Vanhooren, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Ona Therapeutics, mentioned: “ADCs have transformed cancer treatment; however, the technology has been applied to a limited number of tumour targets. These limitations restrict the number of patients who can benefit from treatments and highlight the critical need to identify new broadly expressed tumour targets. Ona’s tailor-designed ADCs have the potential to define new treatment paradigms and patient populations. With the expansion of our executive team and advisory board, Ona is well-positioned to execute our strategic vision to develop multiple first-in-class ADCs and advance our pipeline into clinical development to improve clinical results across multiple tumour types in patients.”
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