Directors join Oxford Vacmedix from Myongji Hospital Group and Series A investors Cancer ROP in South Korea and Mr Jin from China.
Oxford Vacmedix UK Limited (OVM), the UK-‐based biopharma company focused on the development of cancer vaccines, confirmed today the appointment of new Directors to the Board. These new appointments follow the successful Series A investment and bring a wealth of experience and support for the company at a key stage in its development. The appointments are:
Wang-‐Jun Lee: Chairman and CEO of the Myongji Medical Foundation. Dr. Lee is one of the leading pioneers in the Korean healthcare sector. He is also CEO of Korea’s influential healthcare news and publishing company, ‘The Korean Doctors’ Weekly’. He is one of the leading NGO activists in the medial aid area for migrant workers in Korea, and now serves as vice chairman of the Migrant Health Association in Korea. As Executive Chairman of International Affairs of the Korean Hospital Association, he is general secretary of the Korean Healthcare Congress, the leading healthcare related annual congress in Asia. He is also Chairman of Asia-‐Pacific Oncolytic Virus Therapy. Dr. Lee graduated from Seoul National University, College of Medicine. And went on to achieve a PHD and the Board of Surgery in Seoul National University Hospital.
Wenhui Jin: Entrepreneur and investor. Mr Jin graduated from the Chinese Tianjin University of Finance and Economics with a Ph.D. in Economics and obtained an MBA from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He qualified as a certified public accountant before going on to become Chief Financial Officer of Chinese Hebei Rongsheng Real Estate Co Ltd, playing a key role for the company when it was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Market. He was a founder and the CEO of Beijing Jia He Investment Co Ltd and has implemented a series of investments with successful achievements.
Anders Boman: Anders Boman was previously Portfolio Manager at Oxford University Innovation. He has over 30 years’ technology industry experience and has served on nearly 40 boards of venture capital funded companies. Anders holds an MSc in Electrical Engineering, an MBA and Master of Business in Applied Finance. He is currently also a non-‐executive director of Oxford Cancer Biomarkers Ltd, chairman of Cognibotics AB, and chairman of Fieldly AB in Sweden.
Kyoung Sook Lee: Head of Innovation Division, Care Design Centre at Myongji Hospital Division. She holds a Ph.D in medical management from Kyung Hee University and currently leads collaboration with the Bio/Pharma industry to enhance patient satisfaction at the hospital. For over a decade previously she led a large-‐scale biomedical IT project at the Free Economic Zone in Korea. She is also a Director of Cancer ROP and the Korean Society of Healthcare Design.
OVM is developing two lead vaccines, OVM‐100 and OVM‐200, focusing on unmet clinical need. OVM‐100 is an HPV vaccine targeted at cervical cancer, and OVM‐200 represents a new type of vaccine utilising survivin to target solid tumours. Both vaccines will be tested as single agents and in combination with other immune‐oncology (IO) agents.
Spun out from the University of Oxford, OVM is commercialising the research led by Dr Shisong Jiang and developed in Oxford University’s Department of Oncology. The technology uses the novel, proprietary platform of recombinant overlapping peptides to design and develop therapeutic cancer vaccines and diagnostics with the potential for increased efficacy, lower costs, simpler regulatory pathways and synergy when used in combination with other IO agents.
OVM secured Series A investment from Cancer ROP, a leading South Korean healthcare institution, listed in KOSDAQ, and from existing shareholders in China. The financing round represents the first time that a UK cancer vaccines company has been financed by both South Korean and Chinese investors.
William Finch, CEO and Director at OVM, said:
“We are very pleased to have such an experienced Board overseeing the company at this important phase in the development of our cancer vaccines. The expertise and experience brought by the new Directors in key to the in OVM’s cancer vaccines being progressed to important clinical milestones both to benefit patients and to return significant shareholder value. We look forward to using the Board to establish strong working relationships with partners in China and in the Republic of Korea. These appointments are key to our future success for the development of our immunotherapy vaccines”
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
William Finch, CEO, Oxford Vacmedix
T: +44 (0)1865 742074 | M: +44(0)7769 903711 | E: wfinch@oxfordvacmedix.com
About Oxford Vacmedix
Oxford Vacmedix UK Ltd, based on the Oxford Science Park, UK, is a bio‐pharma company that utilizes the novel proprietary platform technology of recombinant overlapping peptides (ROPs) invented by Dr Shisong Jiang. ROPs have been validated as a technology to stimulate broad and strong T cell immunity therefore forming a good platform for cancer therapeutic vaccines and diagnostics. The company is a spin‐out of the University of Oxford and has extensive contacts and collaborations in China through Changzhou Bioscience that is using the ROP platform in both diagnostics and as adoptive cell therapy.
For more information, please visit: www.oxfordvacmedix.com/contact
About Myongji Hospital Group
Myongji Hospital has been at the forefront of medicine since 1987, when the first patients were cared for. The Group’s mission is to provide superior healthcare in a compassionate manner, ever mindful of each patient’s dignity and individuality and to accomplish this mission by calling upon the skills and expertise of all who work together to advance medical innovation, serving the health needs of the community, and furthering the knowledge of those dedicated to caring.
About Cancer ROP Co., Ltd.
Cancer ROP is a molecular diagnostics company in South Korea, focused on genetic diagnosis. Cancer ROP’s genetic diagnosis is aimed at detecting genetic diseases occurring at all stages of human life. Cancer ROP has exclusively produced microarray (BAC DNA Chip) based on the genes obtained from the Korean Genome Projects and has launched NGS service using own clinical database. Cancer ROP was established in 2001 and was acquired by Myongji Hospital‐led investment association in 2017.