Integra Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Simon Dew as Chief Business Officer (CBO).
Mr. Dew brings extensive executive experience in business development and licensing, corporate strategy, portfolio planning, commercial development, alliance management, and investor relations. He joins Integra from Macomics Ltd., where he was responsible for developing and implementing a business plan for out licensing clinical assets and platform technology with the primary purpose of partnerships within biopharma and academia.
Previously, Mr. Dew served as Chief Business Officer at ReNeuron Plc; Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Mereo BioPharma; Vice President of Business Development at Evox Therapeutics; Vice President of Corporate Strategy at Gyroscope Therapeutics (acquired by Novartis); and SVP Corporate Strategy and Communications at Astellas Pharma. Earlier in his career, he held positions as Project Director at GSK and Product Manager at Bristol Myers.
Mr. Dew completed an Executive Leadership Program at Duke University and holds a BSc in Pharmacy from the University of Portsmouth. He is a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
“We are delighted to welcome Simon to our leadership team at such a pivotal time for Integra. His vast experience in business development and corporate strategy across cell and gene therapy, oncology, immunology, and rare diseases will be crucial as we enter our next phase of growth, building alliances with global industry leaders to maximize the reach and value of FiCAT,” said Avencia Sanchez-Mejias, PhD, CEO & Co-Founder of Integra Therapeutics.
“Integra has built a highly differentiated gene writing modular platform with the potential to improve the precision and scalability of cell engineering for next-generation CAR-T therapies,” said Mr. Dew. “The opportunity to help address some of the major limitations of current treatments, including severe toxicities, high costs, and manufacturing delays, is only the beginning. I’m thrilled to join Integra at this exciting stage and and to work with the team to build the partnerships that will bring FiCAT’s potential to patients.’’
FiCAT platform for next-generation CAR-T therapies
FiCAT (Find‑Cut‑And‑Transfer) is a next generation gene writing platform developed by Integra Therapeutics that enables precise, efficient, stable insertion of DNA fragments of unparalleled size into a genome, in a single step without viral vectors dependancies. It combines a ‘find’ module based on CRISPR‑Cas to target a specific genomic site, with a ‘cut‑and‑transfer’ module derived from a engineered transposase to insert the new genetic material in ex vivo and in vivo cell therapy (CAR-T) and gene therapy. FiCAT can be delivered in a viral-free manner via LNP pre-loading, with demonstrated efficiency in several tissues and cells. It is currently in preclinical development for oncology, autoimmune and genetic diseases.