Appointment brings further expertise in immunology and pharmaceutical development to Oxford Vacmedix
Oxford 12th October 2018; Oxford Vacmedix, the UK-based biopharma company focused on the development of cancer vaccines announced today that Professor Xiao-Ning Xu will join the company’s Scientific Advisory Council. Professor Xu is an immunologist who was previously a research leader at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford and the Director of Novartis Vaccines in China. He is currently Chair of Human Immunology at the Imperial College London.
Shisong Jiang, Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford Vacmedix said;
“I am delighted to welcome Xiao-Ning to the Scientific Advisory Council of Oxford Vacmedix at this critical time, as we advance our vaccines as monotherapy and in combination with immuneoncology agents. Xiao- Ning has many years of valuable experience in clinical immunology and in pharmaceutical research. As a Council member, he will be an active contributor to our growth and will be instrumental as we build the portfolio to achieve our vision of advancing effective vaccines that address the unmet medical needs of cancer patients”
Professor Xu Xiao-Ning qualified in Medicine from the Capital Medical University of Beijing in 1984 with a PhD in Clinical Immunology from Flinders Medical Centre in Australia in 1992. He was appointed a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia (FRCPA) in 1999 before going on to become the NHMRC research fellow at the Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Oxford.
Over the last two decades, Xiao-Ning has served on the Medical Research Council as a Senior Clinical Scientist, and as the programme leader at the MRC Human Immunology Unit of the University of Oxford, where he led numerous research projects in immunology. In 2010, he joined Novartis as the Head of Vaccines Research for China, based in Shanghai, and was subsequently appointed to the Chair of Human Immunology at Imperial College, London based at Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.
Prof Xiao-Ning commented;
“I am very pleased to be join the Scientific Advisory Council of Oxford Vacmedix to advise on the development and research of these novel cancer vaccines. “The underlying ROP technology offers great hope to provide safe and effective therapies to help people with cancer live longer and better lives, and I look forward to making a positive contribution to the company”
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:
William Finch, CEO, Oxford Vacmedix
T: +44 (0)1865 742087 | M: +44(0)7769 903711 | E: wfinch@oxfordvacmedix.com
About Oxford Vacmedix
Oxford Vacmedix UK Ltd, based at the Oxford Science Park, UK, is a bio-pharma company that was spun out from the University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology and is utilising 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 technology uses the novel, proprietary platform of ROPs 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 immune oncology (IO) agents. The company has extensive contacts and collaborations in China through Changzhou Bioscience that is using the ROP platform in both diagnostics and as adoptive cell therapy.
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 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 represented the first time that a UK cancer vaccines company has been financed by both South Korean and Chinese investors.
For more information, please visit: www.oxfordvacmedix.com/