Emeryville, California, July 16, 2018 – Eureka Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with the goal of curing cancer by developing novel T-cell therapies that harness the evolutionary power of the immune system, today announced that Stephan A. Grupp, M.D., Ph.D. of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Cameron J. Turtle, MBBS, Ph.D., FRACP, FRCPA of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch) have joined the company’s Scientific Advisory Board.
“We are honored to have Dr. Grupp and Dr. Turtle join Eureka’s Scientific Advisory Board,” said Dr. Cheng Liu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eureka Therapeutics. “Both are experts in T-cell immunotherapy – and in particular cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which has been identified together with neurotoxicity, as significant safety issues associated with currently approved CAR-T therapies. Dr. Grupp’s and Dr. Turtle’s outstanding contributions to immuno-oncology have been widely recognized in the industry. They bring deep experience and expertise that will be a tremendous resource for Eureka as we conduct our Phase I clinical trial of ET190L1 ARTEMIS™ in CD19-positive relapsed and refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (r/r NHL) and initiate our Phase I clinical trial of ET190L1 ARTEMIS™ in CD19-positive relapsed and refractory B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL).”
In a proof-of-concept China clinical study at Beijing Cancer Hospital of ET190L1 ARTEMIS™ for the treatment of CD19-positive r/r NHL, results to date have shown promising anti-tumor activity, and ET190L1 ARTEMIS™ was well tolerated with no observed CRS or neurotoxicity adverse events.
Dr. Grupp, a pioneer in the field of immunotherapy, is the Director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program, Director of Translational Research for the Center for Childhood Cancer Research, Chief of the Cellular Therapy and Transplant Section at CHOP, as well as the Novotny Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dr. Grupp is the lead investigator in the worldwide pivotal study of CART19 (CTL019) therapy for the treatment of pediatric and young adult patients with ALL, which was the first CAR-T therapy to receive FDA approval. Dr. Grupp treated the first pediatric patient with CAR-T therapy and was the first to identify and treat CRS with a targeted therapy. Dr. Grupp trained at Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He was a faculty member at Harvard University until 1996 when joined CHOP. Dr. Grupp obtained his undergraduate degree, M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Dr. Turtle is an Associate Member in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutch, an Associate Professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and an Attending Physician on the Bone Marrow Transplant Program and the Immunotherapy Service at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. His research focuses on developing therapies in which immune T-cells are redirected to be able to kill cancer cells. Dr. Turtle’s group at Fred Hutch has published multiple papers on factors correlating with success and failure of CAR-T-cell therapy for adults with B cell malignanices. Dr. Turtle received his medical degree from the University of Sydney and received his PhD degree from the University of Queensland.
Dr. Grupp and Dr. Turtle join Eureka’s current Scientific Advisory Board consisting of leading oncologists and scientists including:
- Bruce Ames, Ph.D., co-chair, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Berkeley;
- Nai-Kong Cheung, M.D., Ph.D., Enid A. Haupt Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center;
- Hideho Okada, M.D, Ph.D., Kathleen M. Plant Distinguished Professor in Neurological Surgery and an investigator at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at University of California San Francisco (UCSF); and
- David Scheinberg, M.D., Ph.D., Vincent Astor Chair and Chairman, Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry Program, Sloan-Kettering Institute; Chairman, Experimental Therapeutics Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
ABOUT EUREKA THERAPEUTICS, INC.
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. is a privately held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel T-cell therapies that harness the evolutionary power of the immune system. Its core technology platforms center around its proprietary ARTEMIS™ T-cell receptor platform and E-ALPHA® antibody discovery platform for the discovery and development of potentially safer and more effective T-cell therapies for the treatment of multiple hematologic and solid tumors.
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc. is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information on Eureka Therapeutics, please visit www.eurekatherapeutics.com.
CONTACTS:
Eureka Therapeutics, Inc.
Natalie Liu, 510-722-8720
Investor Relations
natalie.liu@eurekainc.com
or
Stern Investor Relations
Julie Seidel, 212-362-1200
julie@sternir.com
