UK-based private biotech company Ottimo Pharma has emerged from stealth mode after four years with the appointment of a strong leadership team. David Epstein is joining the company as the new Chair and CEO. Epstein is the former CEO of Seagen, which was sold to Pfizer for $43 billion last year.
Former SVP and Chief Medical Officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, Mehdi Shahidi, is joining Ottimo Pharma as the new Head of Development & Chief Medical Officer, while James Sabry, previous Head of Pharma Partnering at Roche, is the new Vice-Chair of the board.
Founded in 2020 by the European investment firm Medicxi and biotech entrepreneur Jonny Finlay, Ottimo Pharma is developing a cancer therapy called Jankistomig. Jankistomig is a bi-functional antibody that targets PD1 and VEGFR2, two receptors involved in molecular pathways that help tumors to grow and evade the immune system.
A number of drugs targeting PD1 are already on the market and have revolutionized cancer therapy. They inhibit the PD1 pathway and stop cancer cells from hiding, allowing the immune system to find and kill them. Examples of PD1 inhibitors include Merck’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Bristol Myers Squibb’s Opdivo (nivolumab). When they work, these therapies can extend the lives of people with late-stage cancers. However, often, the patients’ response to the treatment wears off.
Drug developers are therefore continuously searching for new solutions to increase the duration of the treatment. Ottimo Pharma’s Jankistomig is one example. By blocking both the PD1 and VEGF pathways, the company hopes to help the immune system kill cancer cells, prevent the tumor from growing, and decrease adverse effects associated with VEGF, such as hypertension.
"This new medicine is exquisitely designed and offers large potential benefits to patients across a wide range of solid tumors,” said Epstein in a press release. “It will be exciting to scale the team and deliver on the promise to patients."
Ottimo Pharma has not revealed what cancer types it is targeting, but its therapeutic approach is seen as promising. For the last three years, the company has been working on the full pre-clinical characterization of the drug and is planning to file an IND application in late 2025.
"As we launch Ottimo Pharma, I am confident that the combined expertise of this stellar leadership team will help accelerate the transformation of the original insight by Jonny Finlay in his Scottish lab into a best-in-class asset in cancer therapy," said Francesco De Rubertis, Board Member at Ottimo Pharma and Partner at Medicxi.
Jonny Finlay, Scientific Founder and Advisor at Ottimo Pharma added: "I am extremely excited to see Ottimo Pharma come out of stealth. I can't wait to see the scientific and clinical breakthroughs made by this superb team and this deeply differentiated molecule."
