ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AgilVax Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing targeted antibody-based products to treat multiple types of cancer in combination with chemotherapy, checkpoint, and KRAS inhibitors, announced today that its Board of Directors has appointed Joseph Patti, PhD, to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Patti, the current Executive Chairman of the AgilVax Board of Directors, succeeds Federica Pericle, PhD, MBA, who resigned as President and CEO from the company to pursue another opportunity.
Ebetuel Pallares, PhD, AgilVax’s Chairman, said, “Agilvax has made great strides in advancing its therapeutic antibody-based programs toward the clinic and we continue to see tremendous potential in the technology to treat many different types of devastating cancers. We credit Federica for her scientific contributions, including building our versatile therapeutic antibody platform. Her creativity and intellectual contributions are assets and undoubtedly will continue to serve her well in her future endeavors.”
Dr. Patti stated, “I’m honored to join the company at such an exciting time as it advances its xCT antibody-based therapeutics into human clinical trials. Data generated to date with the VLP-based AX09 and monoclonal antibodies validate the important biological role that xCT plays in various cancers. Our data, taken together with numerous scientific publications, strongly suggest that our antibody-based therapeutics in combination with chemotherapy, checkpoint and KRAS inhibitors could play a significant role in treating metastatic cancer.”
About Joseph Patti, PhD
Dr. Patti has over twenty years of executive operating experience and played a critical role in raising over $300M in private and public equity. He led multiple R&D teams that successfully filed six Investigational New Drug Applications. Dr. Patti currently serves as President of JP Biotech Advisors, Inc., which provides strategic growth and drug development advice to emerging biotechnology companies. In May 2019, Dr. Patti was named a director at Armata Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: ARMP). Previously, Dr. Patti served as Aviragen Therapeutics’ (NASDAQ: AVIR) President and Chief Executive Officer. Before joining Aviragen, Dr. Patti co-founded Inhibitex, Inc. (NASDAQ: INHX) and served as its Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research and Development from 2007 until it was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMS) in February 2012. Dr. Patti received a BS in Microbiology from the University of Pittsburgh, a MSPH from the University of Miami, School of Medicine and a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
About AgilVax, Inc.
AgilVax is a biopharmaceutical company developing xCT antibody-based products to treat multiple types of cancer in combination with chemotherapy, checkpoint and KRAS inhibitors. The Company has two products in development; AX09, a VLP-based immunotherapeutic currently in cGMP production and targeted to begin human clinical trials for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer in the 2H 2020, and AbX09, a monoclonal antibody currently in preclinical in vivo studies. xCT overexpression occurs in several cancers leading to metabolic changes that reprograms cells for metastasis.
For more information, please visit http://www.agilvax.com
