WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xilio Therapeutics, a company developing potent, tumor-selective immunotherapies for patients with cancer, today announced that Daniel S. Lynch has been appointed Chair of the company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Lynch is an accomplished biopharmaceutical industry leader with decades of strategic, management and operational experience at companies at many stages of growth, including companies focused on cancer.
Mr. Lynch has approximately 30 years of experience serving in management and board roles in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He is a strategic advisor at Third Rock Ventures and currently serves as chairman of the board of bluebird bio, Blueprint Medicines, Surface Oncology, Translate Bio (formerly RaNA Therapeutics), and SpringWorks Therapeutics. He previously served on the boards of a range of additional biotech companies, including Nimbus Therapeutics, Avila Therapeutics, and Stromedix. Mr. Lynch served as chief executive officer and chief financial officer of ImClone Systems Corp. While at ImClone, he led the company through a significant turnaround, negotiating a major partnership with Bristol-Myers Squibb and helping secure FDA approval of its novel cancer treatment, ERBITUX. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lynch served in various financial positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb over a 15-year tenure. He served on the board of directors and the audit committee of U.S. Oncology Inc., for five years until December 2010 when it was acquired by McKesson. Mr. Lynch received his B.A. in mathematics from Wesleyan University and his M.B.A. from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
"Dan Lynch is a distinguished leader in the biotech community. He brings the perspectives of his 30 years of industry experience founded in the delivery of life-changing therapies for patients across the world. Additionally, Dan brings a strong understanding of corporate governance and management, as well as deep strategic, finance and operational experience that will support Xilio in this rapidly growing stage of the company,” said Rene Russo, CEO of Xilio. “We are very pleased to have him join Xilio Therapeutics as the Chair of our Board of Directors.”
“Xilio Therapeutics is developing an impressive pipeline of highly potent immunotherapies that are selectively activated in tumors and have shown promising preclinical data in important, clinically validated mechanisms in cancer treatment,” said Mr. Lynch. “Xilio’s technology has the potential to meaningfully improve the efficacy and safety of immunotherapies for patients living with cancer, and I look forward to contributing to the company’s continued success in developing these needed therapies for patients.”
Xilio Therapeutics is developing its proprietary technology to create a new class of ultra-potent immunotherapies that are activated selectively within the tumor. These tumor-selective therapies are designed to overcome the significant toxicities associated with clinically validated IO therapies, such as IL-2 and aCTLA4, which have historically limited the number of patients that can be treated and prevented patients from completing full courses of treatment. XTX201 (IL-2) and XTX101 (aCTLA4 mAb) have demonstrated tumor-selective activity in preclinical models, significantly widening the potential therapeutic index for these therapies.
About Xilio Therapeutics
Xilio Therapeutics is a biotechnology company advancing next-generation cancer immunotherapies designed to improve patient outcomes by unleashing the power of the immune system selectively at the site of the tumor. The company’s tumor-selective immunotherapies are based on its proprietary technology, which maximizes the potency of proven immuno-oncology therapies and restricts their activity to the tumor to minimize peripheral side effects. The broad applicability of these therapies across cancer types means that all patients could benefit from these potentially curative medicines.
Xilio was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more information, please visit www.xiliotx.com.
