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ADC Therapeutics Expands TeamLAUSANNE, Switzerland & LONDON --(Business Wire)-- ADC (News - Alert) Therapeutics (ADCT, a portfolio company of Auven Therapeutics) the oncology drug development company focused on Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) targeting major cancers, today announced a significant expansion of its team as the Company's first ADCs enter clinical development. New team members include:
Dr. Peter B. Corr, Chairman of the Board and co-founder and Managing General Partner of ADCT's founding majority investor, Auven Therapeutics, added "ADCs are an important class of the next-generation of cancer drugs, and with our best in class PBD warheads and linkers these agents should have a profound impact for patients with cancer. With the addition over the last year of AstraZeneca, as both an investor in and corporate partner of ADCT, the Company is well funded, and with these new personnel now has a world class team in place to support our plan of having multiple proprietary ADCs in clinical development over the coming two years." Notes to Editors About ADC Therapeutics (www.adctherapeutics.com) ADC Therapeutics (ADCT) is an oncology drug development company that specializes in the development of proprietary Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) targeting major cancers such as breast, lung, prostate, renal, liver and blood. The Company's ADCs are highly targeted drug constructs which combine monoclonal antibodies specific to surface antigens on particular tumor cells with a novel class of highly potent pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD)-based warheads. The Company has access to warhead and linkers chemistries via agreements with Spirogen (a wholly-owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca's MedImmune). It is progressing eleven ADC programs, two of these under a joint development agreement with MedImmune. The Company is located in Lausanne, Switzerland, and utilizes laboratory facilities at Queen Mary Bioenterprises Innovation Centre, London, UK. ADCT was established in 2012 by private equity firm Auven Therapeutics. In 2013, AstraZeneca acquired an equity stake in the Company and entered into a corporate partnership for two ADC programs. ADCT has more than $100 million in committed capital to develop its pipeline of proprietary antibody drug conjugates. About pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) warhead technology PBDs have been shown by researchers at a number of pharmaceutical companies to be dramatically more efficacious than first generation warhead chemistries in a wide range of preclinical models of different tumor types. In 2013, ADCT and Spirogen published data showing that the Herceptin monoclonal antibody conjugated with a PBD warhead yields a large proportion of Complete Responses in HER2-positive cancer models, including low HER2-expressers. In contrast, the first generation ADC-targeting HER2, now approved for refractory HER2-positive breast cancer, only slows tumor cell growth in these models although significantly longer than stand-alone Herceptin. Seattle Genetics is currently undertaking a Phase I clinical trial for its first PBD-based ADC (SGN (News - Alert) CD33A), and has recently initiated a Phase I trial for a second PBD-based ADC (SGN-CD70A); both being developed under license from Spirogen. About Auven Therapeutics (www.auventx.com) Auven Therapeutics is a global private equity firm that acquires and pursues accelerated development of breakthrough therapeutic drugs prior to licensing them to commercial partners. Auven's in-house team of senior pharmaceutical development executives establish the clinical, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial strategies for all its products and oversees their execution. Auven was founded in 2007 by Stephen Evans-Freke and Dr. Peter B. Corr, and maintains operations in Lausanne, London, New York, Bermuda, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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