LEIDEN, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Cancer vaccine company DCPrime today announced the appointments of Marcel Zwaal as Chief Executive Officer, and of Dr. Anthony Hall as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Anthony Hall has 18 years of experience in clinical drug development, in particular in orphan drug indications. Dr. Ada Kruisbeek, founder of DCPrime and since the start of the company active in a dual role as CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, will continue to build and expand the company’s product platform technology as CSO.
“DCPrime is entering a new stage of its development with an on-going Phase I/IIa trial in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and a Phase II efficacy trial to start in the course of 2013,” said Michel Briejer, Chairman of DCPrime’s Supervisory Board. “With Marcel stepping up from Chief Business Officer to the position of CEO, Ada focusing on reinforcing and expanding the platform, and Tony joining to move our clinical programs forward, DCPrime has a formidable team in place to bring the company’s exciting new class of off-the-shelf cancer vaccines to market.”
DCPrime also appointed Bart Klein to its Supervisory Board. Mr. Klein, former Executive Vice President Intellectual Property & Legal Affairs at Crucell, brings 23 years of experience in intellectual property and licensing. In addition to Mr. Klein, the Supervisory Board consists of Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos, Dr. Herbert Heyneker, one of the most distinguished scientist entrepreneurs in the biotech industry, Dr. Leon Hooftman who, following a high-profile career in clinical development, currently is Chief Medical Officer of Synthon, and Dr. Michel Briejer, chairman and partner of Thuja Capital, DCPrime’s cornerstone investor.
“I am delighted to take the helm from Ada, and be given the opportunity to lead the charge to bring DCPrime’s cancer vaccines to patients with real unmet medical needs,” said Marcel Zwaal, CEO. “Supported by our dedicated board members, our management team now has all the capabilities to make a push forward, and capitalize on our first-in-class product platform to develop effective cancer vaccines.”
About DCPrime
DCPrime develops off-the-shelf dendritic cell-based vaccines for a broad range of cancer types, based on its unique, proprietary technology platform, DCOne™. DCOne-based dendritic cell vaccines, in some indications loaded with cancer antigens for targeted treatment, are used as standardized, therapeutic products. The platform combines the power of dendritic cell-based vaccines with the advantages of allogeneic stimulation of the immune system, and the simple logistics of off-the-shelf products. DCPrime has a commercial scale manufacturing process for DCOne-based vaccines in place, and the company’s lead product DCP-001 is in the clinic in a Phase I/IIa study in patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). Several products for solid cancers are in preclinical development, using peptide loaded DCOne-based vaccines.
Contact:
DCPrime
Marcel Zwaal, CEO, +31 71 3322627
m.zwaal@dcprime.nl
or
Capricorn One
Hans Herklots, +41 79 598 7149
capricorn1@bluewin.ch
