Oncorus®, Inc., a biotechnology company developing a next-generation immunotherapy platform of oncolytic viruses for the treatment of several tumor types including highly malignant and aggressive cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), today announced the appointment of Christophe Quéva, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President, Research. The company also announced the addition of Eric M. Sullivan as Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations and Treasurer, and Michael Paglia as Vice President, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls.
"We are thrilled to have Christophe, Eric and Michael join Oncorus in these vital roles at this important time as we advance our development program based on our next-generation immunotherapy platform of oncolytic viruses," said Mitchell H. Finer, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer. "With Christophe's breadth of expertise in the discovery and development of small molecule and biologics for oncology and immuno-oncology, and the extensive experience both Eric and Michael have in finance, operations and discovery to late-stage clinical manufacturing, they will play a critical role in helping us fulfill our mission of developing new therapies for patients with cancers for whom limited treatment options exist."
Prior to joining Oncorus, Christophe was Chief Scientific Officer at iTeos Therapeutics where his responsibilities included leading the generation of an innovative immuno-oncology portfolio of small molecule and antibody programs and overseeing the company's translational medicine strategy for its A2A antagonist and TIGIT programs. Before iTeos, he held successive senior positions at AstraZeneca, Amgen and Gilead Sciences where he led or supported drug discovery programs for oncology and inflammatory diseases, from target selection to commercial approval for small molecules and biologics. A holder of five patents and widely published, Christophe trained as a post-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle after receiving his Ph.D. in Life and Health Sciences from the University of Lille, France.
"The opportunity to join Oncorus greatly appealed to me and I am honored to be here. I am excited to partner with Mitch, the Board and our talented team to help bring new options for patients with cancer, particularly the most aggressive and deadliest tumors like GBM, for which there remains significant unmet medical need," said Dr. Quéva.
As Oncorus's Senior Vice President, Finance & Operations and Treasurer, Eric is responsible for finance and accounting, administration and corporate operations. Prior to joining Oncorus, Eric was at bluebird bio, Inc., where he was Vice President, Finance, Treasurer and Principal Accounting Officer. At bluebird, he helped raise more than $1.5 billion through multiple public equity financings and helped build and scale the finance team during a period of tremendous company growth. Previously, Eric was in management positions at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and PricewaterhouseCoopers. He received his BS in accountancy from Bentley College and is a Certified Public Accountant in Massachusetts.
As Vice President, Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls, Michael leads Oncorus's process development, manufacturing, analytical sciences and quality control operations. Previously, he was at bluebird bio where he established and was responsible for internal and external cellular process development and analytics, cGMP manufacturing operations, CMC regulatory strategy, cellular procurement, and process characterization and validation activities. Prior to bluebird, Michael advanced multiple immunology and cancer biology programs from discovery to late-stage clinical manufacturing at Tolerx, Inc. He received a BS in Biology from Providence College and a MSc in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from the University of New Hampshire.
About Oncorus, Inc.
Oncorus, Inc., is a biotechnology company developing a portfolio of next-generation immunotherapy products, leveraging its proprietary oncolytic Herpes viruses platform, to treat several types of cancer, including highly malignant and aggressive cancers, based upon the work of renowned scientists Joseph Glorioso III, Ph.D., and Paola Grandi, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh. A leader in corporate philanthropy, Oncorus has taken a pledge to donate a portion of product sales to fund promising cancer research and to support cancer care in the developing world. The company is located in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visit www.oncorus.com for more information.
