Nerviano Medical Sciences Strengthens Executive Team to Maximize IDH1/IDH2 Inhibitor Asset

January 12, 2023 |

5 min read

Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. announced the senior appointment to drive validation and maximize the value of its IDH1/IDH2 Inhibitor Asset, NMS-173, and facilitate its expanding and advancing clinical pipeline.

Terrence West, MBA, joins as New Business, Virtual CEO

NERVIANO, Italy & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l., a part of NMS Group S.p.A. (NMS Group), focused on the discovery and early development of oncology drugs and the largest oncological R&D company in Italy, announced today the senior appointment to drive validation and maximize the value of its IDH1/IDH2 Inhibitor Asset, NMS-173, and facilitate its expanding and advancing clinical pipeline. Terrence West, MBA, joins as New Business, Virtual CEO.

Mr. West is a seasoned biopharma executive with over 25 years of experience in all levels of both public and private organizations leading and managing pipeline development across multiple therapeutic areas. He is based in the U.S., working from the U.S. subsidiary (Nerviano Medical Sciences, Inc./ NMS-US) in Boston, which launched mid last year in the US to aggressively promote the company’s transformation plan by expanding in the world’s key biotech and pharmaceutical market. “With the addition of Terrence to the executive team, we are beginning to really establish our footprint in the Boston area,” stated Lisa Mahnke, M.D., PhD, Board Member and Chief Medical Officer of NMS S.r.l. and CEO NMS-US. “NMS-173 is one of our key assets supporting our oncology forward approach, delivering therapies to patients with unmet medical need.”

“After having known and worked with Terrence for many years, I know his expansive experience in both start-up and established biopharmaceutical companies will make a significant contribution to the performance and success of our portfolio,” said Hugues Dolgos, Pharm.D., Chief Executive Officer, NMS Group. “As new business CEO, he will be responsible for strategically and competitively positioning NMS-173 with potential partners and investors, differentiating it from currently approved cancer therapies. As a highly potent dual IDH1 and IDH2 inhibitor with a covalent mode of action in contrast to FDA-approved drugs which only inhibit IDH1 or IDH2, NMS-173 can potentially overcome resistance mechanisms and has potential for broader applications across different genetic variants.”

“I am delighted to join NMS and work with both the U.S. and Italian teams.” said Mr. West. “As a second generation IDH1 and IDH2 inhibitor, compared to first generation, FDA-approved drugs, NMS-173 has shown statistically significant anti-tumor activity in an aggressive model of cholangiocarcinoma, better biomarker modulation in orthotopic glioma in vivo and better disease control in AML models. As a clinic-ready drug, I am excited to bring NMS-173 forward, as it could be life changing for patients.”

Terrence West was most recently a member of the Executive Leadership Team, Vice President, Head of Program Management and Interim Head of Clinical Development at Bicycle Therapeutics leading four assets into the clinic globally and an integral team member leading to a successful IPO. He previously served as Executive Director, Program Management at EMD Serono (a division of Merck KGaA), leading the development, global registration and commercialization of multiple oncology drugs. He got his start working in program management for biopharmaceutical companies on the West Coast (Exelixis and Dynavax) before he expanded his career in the Boston area (Stryker Regenerative Medicine and ZioPharm Oncology). Mr. West holds a MBA from the University of Phoenix, San Francisco and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Arizona.

About Nerviano Medical Sciences
Nerviano Medical Sciences S.r.l. (NMS Srl) is focused on discovery and clinical development of small molecule NCEs for oncology. We take innovative approaches on novel mechanisms of action and drug targets to bring first- and best-in-class personalized medicines to cancer patients. Our current pipeline consists of NCEs, which all originate from our well validated kinase platform that span from early preclinical to clinical stage projects and which are being developed both in house and with partners.

NMS Srl combines the flexibility of a biotech with the quality of a big pharma. Here, an experienced management team leads a highly skilled staff of professionals with global vision and a broad range of expertise in research, drug discovery and clinical development. We cover the whole range of additional aspects of drug development through the NMS Group affiliate companies, Accelera (AdMet) and NerPharMa (manufacturing).

A key strength is our industrially renowned kinase inhibitor drug discovery platform which comprises an ever-evolving chemical collection with broad intellectual property coverage, discovery know-how and technologies which enabled us to out-license IP rights on recently approved innovative medicines such as encorafenib and entrectinib.

We collaborate with academia and clinical investigators as well as with industrial partners worldwide to advance our programs from early discovery to clinical development of new drugs. We seek further strategic collaborations to develop and commercialize our products in different territories as well as in-licensing opportunities of promising assets for clinical development.

About NMS Group
NMS Group is the largest oncological R&D company in Italy. With more than 400 employees of whom more than half are highly educated individuals dedicated to innovative research, development and manufacturing. The NMS kinase inhibitor discovery platform as well as the antibody-conjugating payload platform are the driving forces of the group’s innovation, securing global recognition of NMS in personalized therapy. Recently entrectinib, originally discovered by NMS, is a targeted kinase inhibitor to treat NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1 dependent solid tumors that was licensed to Ignyta, now a member of the Roche Group, gained approvals for commercialization in all major markets. This is further evident of the competitiveness of the drug discovery platform of NMS Group.

NMS Group has three subsidiaries. NMS S.r.l. is a FIC / BIC focused drug research and development company with a robust pipeline of more than a dozen of anti-cancer projects, and three of the projects are currently in early clinical development. The other two subsidiaries are Accelera, which is a preclinical CRO company, and NerPharMa which manufactures API and drug product supporting clinical developments and commercialization.