Newton, MA, August 1, 2023 – Auron Therapeutics, a platform-based,product-driven biotechnology company focused on developing novel cancertherapies that target cellular plasticity, today announced the members of itsscientific advisory board (SAB), comprised of distinguishedphysician-scientists, clinical investigators, and research & developmentveterans from world-leading cancer centers and biopharmaceutical companies. Themost recent addition, Charles M. Rudin M.D., Ph.D., is the Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service at MemorialSloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). The SAB collaborates with Auron’sleadership to provide strategic guidance, as the company advances its proprietaryplatform and its research programs for both solid tumors and hematologicmalignancies.
“Our scientific advisors are some of themost renowned international minds in oncology drug discovery and development,which speaks to the importance of our unique approach to cancer drug discoveryand development,” said Kate Yen, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer ofAuron. “Together, they have an incredible wealth of knowledge and expertisethat we can apply to maximize the power of our multi-omic platform and enablethe potential of therapies targeting cellular plasticity in a range of cancers.This is an exciting time at Auron. We are honored to benefit from theirexpansive contributions to the field of oncology and appreciate their guidanceas we advance our efforts to deliver transformational therapies for patients inneed.”
Auron’s proprietary platform is amulti-omic, AI-powered platform that combines computational and translationalbiology to understand the drivers of two hallmarks of cancer: cellular plasticityand dysregulated differentiation in cancer cells. Leveraging its platform,Auron aims to identify novel targets paired with patient selection and efficacybiomarkers, and ultimately, small molecule product candidates that target thedrivers of altered cellular plasticity.
“We have seen tremendous innovation inoncology over the last decade, including the advent of personalized targetedtherapies and immunotherapy. However, we continue to struggle with acquiredresistance to these therapies,” said Dr. Rudin, Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service, Co-Director of theDruckenmiller Center for Lung Cancer Research, and Sylvia Hassenfeld Chair inLung Cancer Research at MSK. “I am impressed by the sophistication of Auron’splatform, analyzing the plasticity of cancer cells as a key resistancemechanism. Auron is taking a distinct approach that is defining promising targetsnot previously identified or addressed. I am delighted to partner with the SAB,Kate and the Auron team, to maximize the full potential of this platform, withthe ultimate goal of bringing forward more durably effective treatment options forour patients.”
Auron’s Scientific Advisory Board Members
Stéphanede Botton, M.D.
Dr.de Botton is a physician, clinical investigator and head of drugdevelopment in acute leukemias in the Department of Hematology at GustaveRoussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France. He also belongs to the researchunit UMR 1170 for novel preclinical research. He is a member of theexecutive board of the Acute Leukemia French Association (ALFA) that focuses onthe clinical and translational research in adult acute myeloid leukemia.
Richard Chesworth, Ph.D.
Dr. Chesworth is anentrepreneur in residence at Third Rock Ventures, focused on building new drugdiscovery and development companies. He has contributed to the research anddevelopment of thirteen different compounds entering clinical trials, resultingin two FDA-approved new molecular entities, including TAZVERIK® for thetreatment of both epithelioid sarcoma and relapsed/refractory follicularlymphoma. Dr. Chesworth previously served as chief scientific officer at KymeraTherapeutics, head of chemistry and senior vice president of research atEpizyme, head of chemistry at EnVivo, and principal scientist at Surface Logix andPfizer.
RossL. Levine, M.D., Co-founder
Dr. Levine is a member of theHuman Oncology and Pathogenesis Program and an attending physician on theLeukemia Service, Department of Medicine, the Laurence Joseph Dineen Chair inLeukemia Research with Special Emphasis on Leukemia in Children and YoungPeople, Deputy Physician-In-Chief, Translational Research at MSK, and a professorof Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. His laboratory has identifiedmyeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) predisposition alleles and characterizedsomatic genetic and epigenetic alterations in MPN and acute myeloid leukemia(AML) patients, which has led to new mechanism-based therapies. In 2011,Dr. Levine was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation and in2018 to the Association of American Physicians. Dr. Levine is the recipient ofnumerous awards, including the Dameshek Prize from the American Society for Hematology,a Scholar Award from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Boyer Award forclinical investigation from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and an NCI Outstanding InvestigatorAward.
Charles M. Rudin, M.D.,Ph.D.
Dr. Rudin is a medicaloncologist at MSK specializing in the care of patients with lung cancer. He isthe Chief of the Thoracic Oncology Service, Co-Director of the DruckenmillerCenter for Lung Cancer Research, and Sylvia Hassenfeld Professor and Chair inLung Cancer Research at MSK. Dr. Rudin also has chaired the National CancerInstitute (NCI) Small Cell Lung Cancer Research Consortium since its inceptionin 2015. He directs a broad program of therapeutic research, including preclinicaland clinical investigations to identify and test novel therapeutic approachesto small cell and non-small cell lung cancer. Dr. Rudin is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, includingan NCI Outstanding Investigator Award, the NCI Director’s Service Award, andthe Paul Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association forthe Study of Lung Cancer.
Mikhail (Misha) Roshal,M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Roshal is a practicinghematopathologist, Associate attending physician, and Director of the Clinical FlowCytometry Laboratory in the Department of Pathology at MSK. His major clinicalexpertise is in development of robust flow cytometry-based assays forassessment of treatment response of hematologic neoplasms. Dr. Roshal’sresearch interests are in molecular genetic characterization of treatmentresistant and rare disease populations and in defining molecular genetictriggers of lineage infidelity and unusual differentiation pathways in acuteleukemia.
KimberlyStegmaier, M.D.
Dr. Stegmaier is a professorof Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Ted Williams Chair atDana-Farber Cancer Institute and has advanced the application of genomics todrug and protein target discovery for pediatric malignancies. She is the Vice Shairfor Pediatric Oncology Research, Co-director of the Pediatric HematologicMalignancy Program, and an attending physician providing clinical care inPediatric Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’sHospital. Dr. Stegmaier is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute ofHarvard and MIT. She has served as a Council Member with the Society forPediatric Research and as the Chair for the American Association for CancerResearch (AACR) Pediatric Cancer Working Group. Dr. Stegmaier is the recipientof numerous awards, including the Joanne Levy, MD, Memorial Award forOutstanding Achievement from the American Society of Hematology.
EytanM. Stein, M.D., Co-founder
Dr. Stein is the Chiefof Leukemia Service in the Division of Hematologic Malignancies AssociateAttending Physician, Clinical Investigator and Director of the Program for DrugDevelopment in Leukemia at MSK. He conducts novel Phase 1 clinical trials ofcompounds that target the genetic and epigenetic basis of myeloid malignanciesand serves as the lead investigator at MSK for the BEAT AML master clinicaltrial. Dr. Stein led the clinical trials of IDHIFA® and TIBSOVO®, isocitratedehydrogenase (IDH) inhibitors, in patients with relapsed and refractory AMLthat led to their FDA approvals.
Shin-San Michael Su, Ph.D.
Dr. Michael Su is a pioneering biotech leaderwith deep expertise in drug discovery and translational medicine. He served as ChiefScientific Officer of Volastra Therapeutics and as Chief Scientific Officer ofDecibel Therapeutics. Before that, Dr. Su was a Co-founder and Senior Vice Presidentof Research and Development at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he led the teamresponsible for identifying the oncogenic cause of IDH mutants in cancer andthe discovery of IDHIFA® and TIBSOVO®, FDA-approved treatments for AML with IDHmutations. He served as General Directorand Vice President of the Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratory at ITRI inTaiwan and spent 14 years in scientific leadership roles at VertexPharmaceuticals, concluding his tenure as Program Executive and Vice Presidentof the Novartis-Vertex kinase collaboration.
GeorgeThomas, M.D.
Dr. Thomas is a professorof Pathology at the Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health & ScienceUniversity in Portland, Oregon, and Associate Medical Director of the KnightDiagnostics Laboratory. His clinical area of expertise is in precision oncologyof prostate and kidney cancers. Dr. Thomas directs a translational researchprogram that studies treatment induced metabolic reprogramming in thesecancers, with the goal of developing new combination therapies.
MatthewVander Heiden, M.D., Ph.D., Co-founder
Dr. Vander Heiden isan associate professor in the Department of Biology at the Massachusetts Instituteof Technology, and Associate Director of the Koch Institute for IntegrativeCancer Research. He is also an HHMI Faculty Scholar, an Institute Memberof the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and an instructor of medicine at theDana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School. Using acombination of biochemistry, molecular biology and mouse models, the aim of theVander Heiden laboratory is to understand how metabolism influences differentstages of tumor biology with a goal to improve cancer treatment in the clinic.
PareshVyas, MRCP FRCP FRCPath
Dr.Vyas is a professor of Hematology at Oxford University, and aresearch-consulting Hematologist with a clinical practice in myeloid disorders(MDS, AML and MPD) and allogeneic stem cell transplant at the MRC MolecularHaematology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University ofOxford. He is Co-lead of the Oxford BRC Hematology and Stem Cells Theme, is onthe Board of NHSBT, Vice-chair of the MRC Clinical Training Panel andTranslational Lead for the UK Therapy Acceleration Program.
About AuronTherapeutics
Auron Therapeutics is a platform-based,product-driven biotechnology company focused on developing therapies thattarget cellular plasticity for solid tumor cancers and hematologicalmalignancies. Auron has built a proprietary AI-powered platform that integrateslarge, multi-omic datasets to rapidly compare tumor tissue to normal tissuesand enable a systems-biology understanding of the pathways that are associatedwith tumor plasticity, dysregulated differentiation, and treatment resistance. Formore information, please visit www.aurontx.com.
