Today, the company announced the appointment of Mark J. Alles, TORL’s Executive Chairman, as the company’s new Chairman and CEO.
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- TORL Biotherapeutics, LLC (TORL), established in 2019, is a clinical stage biotechnology company discovering and developing new antibody-based immunotherapies to improve and extend the lives of patients with cancer worldwide. Today, the company announced the appointment of Mark J. Alles, TORL’s Executive Chairman, as the company’s new Chairman and CEO. Mr. Alles is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Celgene Corporation with over 35 years of biopharmaceutical experience and an outstanding record of driving innovation and growth at multiple companies focused on hematology and oncology. Mark succeeds Dave Licata, TORL Co-Founder and previous CEO, who successfully led the Company through the initiation of five (5) phase I clinical trials testing ADCs against four (4) cancer targets and led the closing of a $158 million Series B financing in April 2023, and who will continue as a Board Member, President, and has been appointed CFO.
“TORL has rapidly realized significant success in identifying novel cancer targets, developing first-in-class antibody-based therapies directed at these targets, and with the support of our world-class investors, has recently advanced multiple products into Phase 1 studies,” said Board Member and TORL’s scientific founder Dennis Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., of UCLA. “We have reached a major inflection point where our opportunity to generate value for patients, our investors and our team made it both possible and important for us to build on the great work Dave has done by adding and appointing Mark Alles as Chairman and CEO. He is a highly regarded industry veteran with proven operational, financial, business development, clinical development, and commercial experience building and scaling oncology-focused companies. I am extremely excited about what his proven level of experience and expertise will bring to TORL during its next critical phase.” “Since joining the TORL Board two years ago and becoming Executive Chairman in late 2022, I have had the privilege to work with Dave Licata and Dennis Slamon as they built the foundation for what has become an oncology-focused biotechnology company full of promise and potential,” said Mr. Alles. “We are driven by a shared passion to discover, develop and commercialize breakthrough therapies for patients challenged with cancer worldwide. I am excited and honored to lead the Board and the company at such a pivotal time.” “I am proud of the prolific scientific discoveries and the remarkable progress we have made in advancing high potential biologics into the clinic since launching the company only four years ago,” said Dave Licata, TORL Co-Founder, Board Member, President, and CFO. “After co-founding TORL with Dennis with a common vision for a new approach to drug development, and leading the company as CEO, I feel immense pride in what we have achieved. I am excited and eager to work even more closely with Mark as we continue to build TORL into what we believe will be a highly successful biopharmaceutical company.” During his 15-year tenure at Celgene, Mr. Alles executed several multi-billion-dollar company and asset acquisitions, helped to build a broad portfolio of globally marketed medicines and high-potential cancer therapeutics, and led the expansion of Celgene from a US-based organization of approximately 500 employees to a global company with more than 8,800 employees serving patients globally. As Chairman and CEO of Celgene, he led the company’s acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb for $74B in late 2019. He has served on the Boards of several biopharmaceutical companies and industry groups, including Board Chair of Turning Point Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $4.1B in 2022), the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), and the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). He previously served on the Boards of Antengene Corporation and Syros Pharmaceuticals, and currently serves on the Boards of BioMarin Pharmaceutical and Wugen, Inc. Prior to joining Celgene in 2004, Mr. Alles was Vice President of the U.S. Oncology business unit at Aventis Pharmaceuticals. He began his industry career at Bayer and Centocor after serving as a Captain in the United States Marine Corps. About the TORL123-001 (TRIO-049) Clinical Study Key study findings to date for this Claudin 6 targeting ADC include:
About TORL2307MAB-001 (TRIO-051) Clinical Study About TORL2307ADC-001 (TRIO-052) Clinical Study About TORL3600-001 (TRIO-055) Clinical Study About TORL 4-500-001 (TRIO-056) Clinical Study About TORL BioTherapeutics, LLC The lead program, TORL-1-23, is a CLDN6-directed ADC for patients across multiple cancers. The Company has four (4) additional clinical-stage antibody programs. Additionally, TORL is building a broad pipeline of novel ADCs and mABs in cancers of high unmet medical need. TORL Bio is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
SOURCE TORL Biotherapeutics LLC |
View original content to download multimedia:
