SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Senti Biosciences, Inc., the gene circuit company focused on outsmarting complex diseases with intelligent medicines, today announced that Jose Iglesias, M.D., has joined the company as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). In this position, Dr. Iglesias will lead the clinical development of Senti’s next-generation cell and gene therapy product candidates focused on the treatment of solid and liquid tumors.
"We are excited to have Jose join our team as chief medical officer," said Tim Lu, CEO of Senti Biosciences. “He brings a wealth of experience in oncology clinical development to Senti in that he has designed and implemented clinical trials of novel cancer therapies across all development phases. This expertise will be critical as we advance our SENTI-101 program into the clinic later this year, in addition to our upcoming pipeline programs.”
"I'm thrilled to be joining such a talented and diverse team at Senti Biosciences, a company that is pioneering the development of gene circuit-based therapies," said Dr. Iglesias. "I look forward to stewarding these novel therapies through the clinic and into approved treatments for cancer patients with high unmet needs."
Dr. Iglesias has more than three decades of global clinical development experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He has previously held multiple CMO and clinical development leadership roles at companies such as Abraxis, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Boston Biomedical, Apobiologix, Biothera Pharmaceuticals and Bionomics. In these roles, he has led the clinical development of biologics and small molecules in both solid and liquid tumors, bringing extensive experience to Senti’s growing oncology pipeline. While at Abraxis and Celgene, Dr. Iglesias designed and implemented the Phase 3 development of ABRAXANE® for the treatment of metastatic pancreatic, breast and non-small cell lung cancers.
About Senti Biosciences’ SENTI-101 Program
Senti’s gene circuit platform enables the programming of any cell and gene therapy modality, including immune cells, stem cells and viral vectors. Senti’s SENTI-101 program uses tumor-homing allogeneic cells as a drug delivery vehicle to achieve localized, combinatorial expression of two cytokines, IL-12 and IL-21. This pair of cytokines activates a multifactorial immune response against solid tumors, and turns immunologically cold tumors hot. In the second half of 2020, Senti intends to submit an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the initiation of a first-in-human clinical study of SENTI-101 in patients with ovarian cancer.
About Senti Biosciences
Senti Biosciences is a next-generation therapeutics company that is developing gene circuits and programming cells for tremendous therapeutic value. Senti’s mission is to outsmart complex diseases with more intelligent medicines that will transform people’s lives. By programming cells to respond, adapt and make decisions, Senti is creating smarter therapies with computer-like logic, enhanced functionality and greater therapeutic control.
Senti’s product candidates address major challenges in cancer treatment. To overcome cancer immune evasion, Senti is building cell therapies equipped with combinatorial arming gene circuits to elicit broad and sustained anti-tumor immune responses. Senti is also developing next-generation cell therapies that more precisely target and eliminate cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.
Senti Biosciences is based in South San Francisco and was founded in 2016 by Drs. Tim Lu, Philip Lee, Jim Collins and Wilson Wong. Senti is proud to count NEA, 8VC, Amgen Ventures, Lux Capital, Menlo Ventures, Pear Ventures, Allen & Company, Nest.Bio, Omega Funds, and LifeForce Capital among its investors.
