SOUTHLAKE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OncoNano Medicine, Inc. today announced the appointment of Kartik Krishnan, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Krishnan will be responsible for formulating and leading all clinical development efforts and operations at OncoNano. Additionally, Dr. Krishnan will develop and implement the strategic clinical plans for OncoNano, including the creation of a medical affairs team, as the company further advances its clinical oncology development programs.
“We are thrilled that OncoNano has been successful in attracting such a noted and impressive scientist as Dr. Krishnan. Kartik is a proven and respected oncology drug developer, with extensive experience in leading the development of novel oncology therapeutic programs,” said Martin Driscoll, CEO of OncoNano. “His breadth of experience and history of drug development success will be instrumental to our company as we progress our differentiated portfolio of oncology development candidates into multiple clinical trials.”
Dr. Krishnan previously served as Chief Medical Officer at Arcus Biosciences, where he led the expansion of the company’s portfolio into novel indications and combinations, as well as the initiation of a number of pivotal Phase 3 trials. Prior to joining Arcus, he served as Executive Medical Director at Astex Pharmaceuticals, providing strategic direction and tactical support across multiple programs in all phases of development. Dr. Krishnan has also held positions in clinical drug development at Genentech, FivePrime Therapeutics, BioMarin and Amgen. Dr. Krishnan earned both his M.D. and Ph.D. in Cellular, Molecular, and Biophysical Studies from Columbia University.
“My passion is working with novel technologies that have the potential to benefit the treatment of patients with cancer. I am excited about the potential for the core platform technology at OncoNano that can deliver oncology payloads in a targeted and efficient manner to the tumor microenvironment,” said Dr. Krishnan. "I believe I am joining OncoNano at an ideal time because I can immediately impact the strategic development plans for the OncoNano therapeutics programs and lead the execution of the clinical programs at the company. I am impressed with the OncoNano organization and look forward to working with Marty and the OncoNano team to successfully advance our pipeline and achieve the company’s mission to benefit cancer patients.”
About OncoNano Medicine
OncoNano Medicine is developing a new class of products that utilize principles of molecular cooperativity in their design to exploit pH as a biomarker to diagnose and treat cancer with high specificity. Our product candidates and interventions are designed to help patients across the continuum of cancer care and include solid tumor therapeutics, agents for real-time image-guided surgery and a platform of immune-oncology therapeutics that activate and guide the body’s immune system to target cancer.
OncoNano’s lead development candidate is pegsitacianine, a novel fluorescent nanoprobe, that is currently under study in Phase 2 clinical trials as a real-time surgical imaging agent for use in multiple cancer surgeries. ONM-501, OncoNano’s second development program, is a next generation STING (STimulator of INterferon Genes) agonist that is advancing towards a first in human trial in the first half of 2023. Pegsitacianine and ONM-501 have been supported by grants received from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Learn more at www.OncoNano.com.
