Johnson & Johnson has dropped its world wide head, cell remedy platform and discovery. Tamas Oravecz, Ph.D., took up the article at J&J’s Janssen before this calendar year, only to go away to grow to be chief scientific officer at the freshly minted most cancers biotech Parthenon Therapeutics.
Oravecz worked on HIV mobile and gene therapies early in his occupation, paying out two decades at Novartis as it attempted to make a success of the belongings it obtained in the takeover of SyStemix. Later on, Oravecz worked on other modalities, to start with during a 14-year stint at Lexicon Prescribed drugs and later in a shorter spell at Celgene.
In 2018, Oravecz joined Janssen from Celgene, to begin with as senior director and head of exploratory discovery. Oravecz moved roles in just Janssen earlier this calendar year, taking on the titles of VP and worldwide head, cell therapy platform and discovery, and has now moved out of the firm entirely.
Last month, Oravecz remaining Janssen to come to be CSO at Parthenon. The position provides Oravecz a starring purpose in Parthenon’s try to strengthen the treatment method of cancers by building holes in the limitations that encompass lots of tumors, therefore allowing T cells to penetrate the interior sanctum and wipe out the malignant cells.
Relevant: Pfizer provides to Parthenon’s $65M war upper body to back again battle at the tumor barrier
Parthenon took the lid off its activities one thirty day period back when it at the same time disclosed a $65 million collection A spherical and a Mother nature paper describing how neutralizing discoidin domain receptor 1 disrupts the mechanical barrier all around tumors. The paper talked about the software of the technique in breast cancer, but Parthenon sees possibilities to tackle a large assortment of tumors.
Oravecz will assistance Parthenon get the job done through the chances. In a statement to disclose the appointment, Parthenon CEO Laurent Audoly, Ph.D., highlighted Oravecz’s “deep expertise in tumor biology” and observe history of “recognizing and selecting clinically practical therapeutic methods.”