Boston, Mass., and West Haven, Conn. – July 10, 2023 – Normunity, Inc., a biotechnology company creating novel precision anti-cancer immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Debanjan Ray, MBA, to its board of directors. Mr. Ray currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Synthekine, and he has served in leadership roles for multiple biotechnology companies.

“We are excited to welcome Debanjan to our Board of Directors, as he brings exceptional strategic, operational, and transactional leadership as a CEO and senior executive who has played a critical role in building emerging biotech companies,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer of Normunity. “Debanjan’s impressive track record of creating value in the biopharmaceutical industry from the vantage points of his leadership roles at biotech companies will be of tremendous value as Normunity pursues novel mechanisms for precision immuno-oncology medicines and builds a world-class cancer drug company.”

“I am impressed with the potential of Normunity’s new approach to immune normalization to transform cancer immunotherapy and deliver new medicines that can meaningful improve treatment for cancer patients,” said Mr. Ray. “I look forward to working with the other Board members and the Normunity team at this exciting stage of the company’s growth as it advances immunotherapy candidates with novel mechanisms for fighting cancer.”

Mr. Ray has twenty years of experience in high-growth companies in the biopharma industry, including leadership expertise in corporate strategy, portfolio management and fundraising, partnering and M&A transactions. He has served as Synthekine’s President and Chief Executive Officer since the company’s formation in 2019 and over that time has led the growth of Synthekine from an early stage platform company to multi-modality, multi-asset clinical stage company. Before joining Synthekine, he served as Chief Financial Officer and head of corporate development at CytomX Therapeutics, capping an eight-year tenure in roles of increasing responsibility. He helped advance CytomX from an early stage platform technology to multi-asset clinical stage company, led financing efforts and closed multiple collaborations with several leading pharmaceutical companies including Bristol Myers Squibb, AbbVie, and Amgen, that generated over $500 million in upfront payments and up to $5 billion in milestones. Prior to joining CytomX in 2011, Mr. Ray was VP of Business Development at Itero Biopharmaceuticals. Earlier in his career, Debanjan held positions in business development at Portola Pharmaceuticals, in the life sciences venture practice at J.P. Morgan Partners and as a business analyst in the healthcare practice at McKinsey & Company. He received his MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and his BS in chemical engineering and biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Normunity

Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

Boston, Mass., and West Haven, Conn. – January 19, 2023 – Normunity, Inc., a biotechnology company creating novel precision anti-cancer immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Olga Granaturova, MBA, as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer. Ms. Granaturova brings over 25 years in the global biopharma industry with multi-disciplinary experience in corporate strategy, business development, R&D organization, portfolio management, and regulatory and commercialization strategies in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies across many sizes and all stages of growth.

“We are delighted to welcome Olga to the Normunity Leadership Team. Her hands-on experience in business creation, financing and business development will play a vital role as we continue to grow,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer of Normunity. “Olga’s entrepreneurial spirit and scientific background are an ideal fit for our team, as we realize the tremendous opportunities enabled by our novel mechanisms in immuno-oncology and build a world-class biotech company.”

“I couldn’t imagine a more exciting time and opportunity to join Normunity, as the company is building momentum with its new approach to immune normalization in the fight against cancer,” said Ms. Granaturova. “I look forward to driving the next phases of development to help Normunity achieve its aspirations as a drug innovator in the immuno-oncology space with the potential to create numerous life-changing medicines for cancer patients.”

Olga Granaturova’s diverse experience spans the entire value chain from R&D to commercial launch, and she brings deep expertise in business functions including fundraising, licensing, partnering and M&A transactions. She joins Normunity after serving as co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Parthenon Therapeutics, a biotech company creating a novel class of anti-cancer therapies. Based on her business leadership role at Parthenon, as well as serving as VP of business development at Evotec and founder and managing partner of the life sciences consulting firm, LENUS Group, she has hands-on experience in company creation for biotech start-ups as a founder, angel investor, and a startup mentor. Earlier in her career, Olga had tenures at top tier pharmaceutical companies, including as a leader in global regulatory development at Merck and as a drug discovery scientist at Pfizer. Over the course of her career, Olga has led teams to deliver 20 different clinical candidates, 3 drug launches, and several multi-year, multi-million dollar deals. In addition, Olga is co-founder and president of Brighter Ventures, a nonprofit organization advancing women-led entrepreneurship, and she serves on the board of Parthenon Therapeutics and Coucou Nous Voilou, a pediatric oncology nonprofit organization. She received a BS in Pharmaceutical Sciences from SUNY at Buffalo and a TRIUM Global MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business, HEC Paris and the London School of Economics, and was recently named to Inc.’s Female Founders 100 List, honoring women whose innovations and ideas are making the world into a better place.

About Normunity

Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com

 

— Partnership leverages Alloy’s high velocity antibody discovery offering to accelerate Normunity’s novel precision immuno-oncology pipeline —

BOSTON, MA; November 17, 2022—Alloy Therapeutics, a biotechnology ecosystem company, announced an antibody discovery collaboration spanning multiple precision immuno-oncology programs for Normunity, a biotech company that recently announced its $65 million Series A financing. The collaboration will support the advancement of Normunity’s immune normalizers, antibody therapies designed to target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity to fight cancer, which are conceived through a unique biotech-academic collaboration with a renowned immuno-oncology university research lab.

Alloy democratizes access to tools, technologies, and services that are foundational for discovering and developing therapeutic biologics and has partnered with more than 130 discovery teams across academia, biotech, and large biopharma organizations. Through its discovery services offering, Alloy conducts high-touch, bespoke therapeutic discovery campaigns against partners’ targets of interest.

“Our partnership reflects an exciting opportunity to pair Normunity’s insights in immune disruption and cancer disease biology with Alloy’s world-class antibody discovery expertise,” said Normunity Chief Scientific Officer William LaRochelle, PhD. “We value Alloy’s collaborative approach and look forward to working together to advance the best therapeutic antibodies to target mechanisms discovered through Normunity’s platforms.”

The collaboration between Alloy and Normunity is leveraging Alloy’s high velocity antibody discovery services offering, Daedamab, which takes a sequencing-first approach to antibody discovery that reduces discovery timelines without sacrificing quality. The Daedamab team is based in Alloy’s research facility in Athens, GA, and its workflow comprises the ATX-Gx™, Alloy’s proprietary mice platform for human therapeutic antibody discovery, in addition to robust B cell isolation, next generation sequencing, cloning-free expression and a high throughput screening process—all supported by a rich informatics engine.

“We are very excited to work with Normunity on its set of unique immuno-oncology targets using our high velocity NGS-based antibody discovery methods leveraging the ATX-Gx platform,” said Richard Shimkets, PhD, SVP of Genetics and New Technologies at Alloy Therapeutics and CEO of the Daedamab site. “This relationship is emblematic of Alloy’s expertise in deploying the right technologies and processes to find our partners the best therapeutic antibodies against the novel targets they bring us.”

Normunity is advancing into the clinic with programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T cells into immune-sensitive tumors and aim to deliver an active and effective immune system into cold tumors.

About Daedamab
Alloy’s Daedamab discovery service offers a novel, fast, powerful sequence-first approach to finding and making the best antibodies. The team is based in Athens, GA and supports Alloy collaborators with complete antibody discovery services, antibody sequencing of customer-provided material, expression and testing of customer-provided antibody sequences, humanization, and optimization services.

 About Alloy Therapeutics
Alloy Therapeutics is a biotechnology ecosystem company empowering the global scientific community to make better medicines together. Through a community of partners across academia, biotech, and the largest biopharma, Alloy democratizes access to pre-competitive tools, technologies, services, and company creation capabilities that are foundational for discovering and developing therapeutic biologics across six modalities, including antibodies, TCRs, genetic medicines, peptides, cell therapies, and drug delivery. Partners may access all current and future technologies for a flat annual fee through Alloy’s Innovation Subscriptions offering. As a reflection of Alloy’s relentless commitment to the scientific community, Alloy reinvests 100% of its revenue in innovation and access to innovation. Join the Alloy Therapeutics community by visiting alloytx.com or following Alloy on LinkedIn.

 About Normunity
Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly-discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com.

Company’s medicines target unprecedented mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer

Immuno-oncology discovery engine based on ongoing academic-biotech research from the Lieping Chen lab at Yale School of Medicine

First pipeline programs focused on novel mechanisms of tumor T-cell exclusion

 

Boston, Mass., and West Haven, Conn. – October 25, 2022 – Normunity, Inc., a biotechnology company creating novel precision anti-cancer immunotherapies, today announced its launch and Series A financing of $65 million. The Series A was led by Canaan Ventures and included participation by Sanofi Ventures, Taiho Ventures and Osage University Partners. Normunity’s new class of agents, called immune normalizers, target previously undiscovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer. The company’s pipeline is drawn from the ongoing and interactive academic-biotech research taking place at Yale School of Medicine, leveraging proprietary discovery platforms from the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen, an immuno-oncology luminary who identified PD-L1 (B7-H1) among other seminal contributions to the field.

“The normal immune system is a powerful anti-cancer force, and effective immune-stimulating strategies can result in long-lasting cancer remissions, even cures. Yet, today’s immunotherapies don’t capitalize on the full anti-cancer potential of the normal immune system, and most cancer patients do not respond to available treatment options. This leaves an untapped immune biology that we have begun to uncover,” said Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, scientific founder of Normunity and UTC Professor in Cancer Research and Professor of Immunobiology, of Dermatology and of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at Yale School of Medicine. “Working together with Normunity, we are finding previously hidden mechanisms of tumor-dependent immune disruption and we aim to usher in a new era of drug discovery for precision immuno-oncology with medicines that normalize immune function.”

The Series A financing will enable Normunity to advance its emerging pipeline of immune normalizers into the clinic. The company’s initial pipeline programs target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T cells into immune-sensitive tumors and aim to deliver an active and effective immune system into ‘cold’ tumors. Proceeds from the financing will also be used to build on multiple discovery platforms in the Lieping Chen lab to pursue additional mechanisms that block normal anti-cancer immunity.

“It is so clear to everyone involved in launching Normunity that there is remarkable potential to translate the Lieping Chen lab’s leading-edge discoveries into breakthrough cancer immunotherapies. We have built the right team and the right seamless collaboration between Normunity and the Lieping Chen lab to rapidly cultivate scientific discovery, jointly share expertise, and advance a novel class of drugs that can potentially set a new standard in the immuno-oncology landscape,” said Tim Shannon, MD, General Partner at Canaan Ventures and Chair of Normunity’s Board of Directors.

The company’s unique model is a collaborative and iterative workflow between the Lieping Chen lab and Normunity to identify novel immuno-oncology mechanisms through proprietary platforms, interrogate and validate the emerging targets together pre-clinically and clinically. This academic-biotech alliance leverages world-class scientists with deeply experienced drug designers and developers in a new way.

“Normunity is leading the way in establishing a new roadmap for I-O drug discovery with a simple and powerful premise: to free the immune system to work with maximal potential against cancer. With our scientific approach, we are pioneering novel mechanisms where there is unexplored potential for new medicines. With our R&D model, we have established a first-of-a-kind collaboration with the Lieping Chen lab that has already been prolific in identifying and validating novel targets,” said Rachel Humphrey, MD, founding Chief Executive Officer. “We have strong momentum advancing our pipeline of immune normalizers as we translate groundbreaking biology into life-changing medicines for cancer patients.”

Leadership in immuno-oncology

Leading the academic-biotech teams that are harnessing the potential of the Lieping Chen lab’s proprietary platforms and Normunity’s drug development are Rachel Humphrey, MD, Normunity’s Chief Executive Officer, and Lieping Chen, MD, PhD, whose lab is responsible for many important discoveries in immuno-oncology pathways.

Among his seminal contributions to the field of immuno-oncology, Dr. Chen played an integral role in the discovery of the PD‑1/PD-L1 pathway and its immune-suppressive functions. His lab performed foundational work that led to the invention of anti‑PD‑1/PD‑L1 antibody therapy. In addition, he was deeply involved in the first-in-human trial for Opdivo® (nivolumab), and invented PD-L1 clinical measurement tools. Dr. Humphrey has 25 years of experience with a focus in oncology, including leading the development of the cancer immunotherapies Yervoy® (ipilimumab) at BMS and Imfinzi® (durvalumab) at AstraZeneca, as well as the tyrosine kinase inhibitor Nexavar® (sorafenib) at Bayer. Her biotech leadership roles include CMO at Black Diamond Therapeutics, CytomX and Mirati, and independent Board of Director positions at CytomX, Xilio, Pyxis and Sporos.

The Normunity team brings together experienced drug development leaders with decades of experience in novel drug discovery and clinical advancement of novel cancer and immuno-oncology drugs who have played key roles in the development of more than 30 distinct approved drugs.

About Normunity

Normunity, Inc., is a biotechnology company creating a new class of precision immuno-oncology medicines, called immune normalizers, that target novel mechanisms that free the body’s normal immunity against cancer. Based on an ongoing, interactive academic-biotech partnership with the lab of Dr. Lieping Chen at Yale School of Medicine, Normunity is targeting newly-discovered mechanisms of immune disruption in cancer based on proprietary discovery platforms that elucidate the complex interactions between human cancer and the immune system. The company is advancing an emerging pipeline of immune normalizers, including initial drug programs that target mechanisms that drive the exclusion of T-cells from immune-sensitive tumors and other mechanisms that are barriers to normal immune function in cancer. Normunity is located in Boston, Mass. and West Haven, Conn. For more information, please visit www.normunity.com.

 

Media Contact
Kathryn Morris, The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com