Cambridge, UK, 1st October 2012 – MISSION Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of modulators of the deubiquitylating (DUB) enzyme family for the treatment of cancer, has announced the appointment of Dr Michael Moore as Executive Chairman and Fritz Frickel as Non-Executive Director.
Graziano Seghezzi of Sofinnova partners, on behalf of the investor syndicate, commented: “We warmly welcome Michael Moore and Fritz Frickel to the MISSION Board. Their combined commercial, drug translational and managerial experience will complement our existing capabilities and provide valuable links with the pharma and venture capital industries with which they have both enjoyed highly productive relationships”.
Dr Moore brings extensive experience to MISSION at a formative phase of the company’s development.
Following an earlier academic career principally at the Paterson Institute for Cancer Research (University of Manchester), Dr Moore has more than two decades of senior management experience in the biotechnology sector, as Chief Scientific Officer of Xenova Group plc and more recently as Chief Executive Officer of Piramed, the UK bioscience company acquired by F Hoffmann-La Roche in 2008. Dr Moore also serves as a Non-Executive Director of several companies including PsiOxus Therapeutics. He is also a member of the Cancer Research UK Science Committee.
Dr Fritz Frickel joins the MISSION Board as a non-executive director. Currently an independent advisor to venture capital firms, biotech start-ups and universities, Dr Frickel was formerly Senior Vice-President of R&D and acting CEO of Alantos which was acquired by Amgen. Other senior pharma roles have included SVP of research at Abbott, world-wide head of research at BASF and head of clinical, pharmaceutical and regulatory development at Knoll. Dr Frickel served as non-executive director of RespiVert, an Imperial College spin-out, until its acquisition by Janssen Biotech Inc. in 2010 and is currently a director of new start-up company TopiVert.
About MISSION Therapeutics
MISSION Therapeutics was founded in 2011 by a team of scientists including Professor Steve Jackson FRS, Dr Niall Martin, Dr Xavier Jacq and Dr Keith Menear, along with founding institutes Cancer Research Technology and Cambridge University. The company’s activities build on the research of Professor Jackson, who holds the Frederick James Quick Chair of Biology at the University of Cambridge and is Head of Cancer Research UK Laboratories at The Gurdon Institute in Cambridge and exploit the new and exciting research emerging on the ubiquitin pathways that control cellular responses to DNA damage.
The Company is building a broad platform of technologies for the discovery and further development of first-in-class modulators of ubiquitin pathway enzymes involved in cancer and other diseases. The company is developing drugs to inhibit the proliferation of tumour cells, building on its scientists’ experience in exploiting the concept of synthetic lethality, now an established and powerful mechanism to selectively kill tumour cells.
MISSION has received £6 million in Series A funding from a strong venture capital syndicate comprising Sofinnova Partners, Imperial Innovations, SR One and Roche Venture Fund and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, south of Cambridge.
CONTACT:
MISSION Therapeutics Ltd
Dr Michael Moore, Executive Chairman
+44 (0)7802 626738
Dr Niall Martin, Chief Operating Officer
+44 (0)1223 497451
Email: enquiries@missiontherapeutics.com
College Hill Life Sciences
Nicole Yost/Henry Stanley
+44 (0)20 7866 7868
