Imugene Ltd (ASX:IMU, OTC:IUGNF) has appointed Dr Steven Cha as its chief medical officer (CMO) and a member of its executive management team.
Dr Cha will lead the company’s global clinical development efforts and medical affairs at a pivotal time of its growth.
Important time in company’s growth
Imugene managing director and CEO Leslie Chong said: “We are fortunate to have a chief medical officer of Dr Cha’s experience and reputation join our team.
“His extensive background in oncology clinical development with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies makes him an ideal fit for Imugene at an important time in our company’s growth.”
Innovative pipeline
Dr Cha said: “I am excited to bring my extensive clinical development experience to the high calibre team at Imugene.
“Together, we can make a real difference to oncology outcomes by bringing to market our innovative pipeline of immunotherapy vaccines and oncolytic viruses.”
Experience in oncology drug development
Dr Cha is a qualified haematologist with more than 16 years of experience in leading oncology drug development within the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries.
His most recent role was as CMO of California-based NKGen Biotech, focused on oncology, neurology and autoimmune disease programs.
He provided the clinical strategy for all therapeutic indications, built the internal teams for execution of its clinical trials and represented the company with pharma partners, regulatory agencies and the investment community.
Prior to this, he was vice president, oncology at Samumed, LLC, where he was responsible for building and establishing the oncology therapeutic indication and associated team.
Dr Cha was also formerly senior director, global clinical lead: Early Oncology Development and Clinical Research at Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), where he built and led a cross-functional team for prostate cancer, small cell lung cancer and breast cancer therapy.
Prior to that, he was head of global clinical development for the Metastatic Breast Cancer Franchise of Puma Biotechnology.
Earlier in his career, Dr Cha was a senior medical director and clinical lead at MEI Pharma, and medical director at Allergan (NYSE:AGN).
He was previously at Amgen, where he was part of the team that went through successful global NDA filing with Nplate® , first-in-class thrombopoietin, and acquisition and integration of blinatumomab, first-in-class BiTE (Bispecific T-Cell Engager) platform to be commercialized.
Dr Cha received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, San Diego and his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston.
He subsequently completed his postgraduate and fellowship trainings in Hematology as well as Blood and Marrow Transplant at Stanford University School of Medicine.