HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / November 18, 2020 / Memgen, a private biotechnology company developing novel treatments for cancer and COVID-19, today announced that John Poulos has joined the company's Board of Directors.
"I am very pleased to join the board of Memgen at this transformational time in the company's life," noted Mr. Poulos. "Memgen's strong and differentiated science hold promise both for patients with cancer and for an approach to COVID-19 that should be complementary to other approaches to vaccination. I look forward to helping the leadership team move these important treatments forward for the benefit of patients."
Dr. Gregory Brown, Memgen's CEO, also noted, "We are delighted to have John bring his extraordinary breadth of background and deep pharmaceutical expertise to bear as a member of Memgen's board. We are confident that John will add tremendous value as a director both in supporting the company's scientific progress and helping achieve positive business outcomes for the company."
Mr. Poulos has a wealth of expertise in global corporate life sciences, having spent 38 years working for AbbVie and Abbott. Mr. Poulos served as Vice President, Head of Business Development and Acquisitions for AbbVie from 2013 until his retirement in 2016. John was also Group Vice President, Head of Pharmaceutical Licensing and Acquisitions for Abbott from 2005 until 2012. During his career with AbbVie and Abbott, John was instrumental in the negotiation of numerous acquisitions, including Knoll/BASF Pharma in 2001 for $6.9 billion, Kos Pharmaceuticals in 2006 for $3.7 billion, Solvay in 2010 for $6.2 billion and Pharmacyclics in 2015 for $21 billion. He also has negotiated numerous partnerships and transactions which were instrumental in building the Abbott/AbbVie pharmaceutical portfolio.
Mr. Poulos is currently President of GNK Advisors, a business development consulting firm, and on the board of Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy. Mr. Poulos earned a bachelor's degree in marketing and an MBA in finance from Indiana University and was named the 2014 Frank Barnes Mentor Award recipient by the Licensing Executives Society.
About Memgen
Memgen is developing viral immunotherapies to harness the power of the immune system to cure cancer and to protect people from COVID-19 and other diseases. Its first-in-class immune-oncology therapeutics are designed for the treatment of patients who do not respond to currently available therapeutic options. The Company's lead cancer product, MEM-288, is engineered to both selectively target cancer cells and supercharge the immune system through expression of two unique and powerful immune modulators: CD40 ligand (CD40L) and the powerful cytokine interferon beta. MEM-288 has been demonstrated to generate a strong systemic anti-tumor immune response following intra-tumoral vaccination in multiple tumors. The Company expects to begin clinical testing with MEM-288 early in the coming year. Memgen's COVID-19 vaccine adjuvant, MemVax, is designed to be used with other vaccine technologies to generate a strong, durable immune response to protect against COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. The Company's pipeline products all utilize its proprietary CD40L transgene, MEM40, which has already been tested in human subjects and has demonstrated the ability to elicit powerful, antigen-specific anti-tumor immune responses across a broad range of tumor types.
In this press release, unless the context requires otherwise, "Memgen," the "Company," "Companies," "we," "our," and "us" refers to Memgen, Inc.
Investor Contact:
Gregory B. Brown, M.D.
(203) 940-3742
[email protected]
Media Contacts:
Gregory B. Brown, M.D.
(203) 940-3742
[email protected]
SOURCE: Memgen