Zelluna Immunotherapy announces the appointment of Namir Hassan as chief executive officer.
Oslo, Norway, December 19, 2019 - Zelluna Immunotherapy, the biopharma company developing T-cell receptor (TCR) guided adoptive cell therapy products for treatment of multiple solid cancers, today announces the appointment of Namir Hassan as chief executive officer (CEO).
“At this stage of Zelluna’s evolution, we are delighted to appoint Namir Hassan as CEO. Namir has made an invaluable contribution to Zelluna since he joined the company in 2018 as chief scientific officer (CSO). He has a strong scientific background, particularly in the TCR therapeutic space, and was previously responsible for leading research through to early clinical trials as well as growing biotech organizations. This experience has given him excellent scientific and multi-organizational perspectives which will be crucial as CEO of Zelluna,” said Hans Ivar Robinson, chair of the board, Zelluna. “We wish to thank Miguel Forte for building a highly engaged and experienced cell therapy team as well as his passion and leadership and we wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”
Namir joined Zelluna as CSO from Immunocore Ltd where he was responsible for building the biology, preclinical and biomarker organizations in oncology. He also led development and a first-in-human trial in metastatic melanoma. Namir also created and built an infectious disease unit, including pipeline development and secured an investment of up to USD 40 million from the Gates foundation. Previously, Namir had a leadership role in the discovery research organization within GSK, and has worked at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Namir received a DPhil from the University of Oxford in T-cell Biology.
“I joined Zelluna because I believe in the potential of TCR targeting as a means to drive therapeutic benefits in patients fighting solid cancers. I am particularly excited by the recent progress we have made to accelerate Zelluna’s allogeneic TCR-NK strategy,” said Namir Hassan, CSO, Zelluna. “Building on proprietary technologies, and a strong expert team in cell therapy, Zelluna has the potential to become an international immunotherapy leader and bring safe and effective therapeutic options to patients of the most common and fatal solid cancers.”
About Zelluna Immunotherapy
Zelluna Immunotherapy is a company developing transformative T cell receptor (TCR) based cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of solid cancers. The company is developing a unique portfolio of tumor specific TCR’s to broadly engage the host immune system to provide a safe, efficient and durable clinical response. The company is developing therapies based on the effector functions of autologous T cells (TCR-T) and allogeneic NK cells (TCR-NK). Both of these platforms have their unique advantages and provides the opportunity to attack cancers from multiple angles and improve access to these advanced therapies to a large patient population. For more information, please visit www.zelluna.com.
