NovalGen announces updates to its executive management team

NovalGen announces updates to its executive management team

Experienced founder and UCL Professor Amit Nathwani becomes CEO and board member

Executive team includes proven leaders in business and science

London, United Kingdom, 19 February 2021 – NovalGen Ltd (“NovalGen”), a biopharmaceutical company developing breakthrough cancer therapies, today announced updates to its management team.

NovalGen is now led by UCL Professor Amit Nathwani, founder of the Company and who is serving as Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors. Professor Nathwani is a renowned serial innovator and entrepreneur with an international award-winning reputation for his work in cancer research, immunology, and gene therapy.  He has an established track record of successful early phase trials with advanced therapy medicinal product and is commonly cited for his pioneering work in gene therapy where he was the first to show successful correction of bleeding diathesis in patients with severe hemophilia. He is also the founder, and former CSO of Freeline where he remains a Board member.

“NovalGen is developing bispecific therapies that can safely harness the immune system to treat both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors,” said Professor Amit Nathwani, CEO.  “We have attracted a highly talented team of experienced scientists, physicians and business professionals to the company and I look forward to working with them as we progress our pipeline of cancer therapies, with our first clinical study in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia & Mantle Cell Lymphoma, expected to initiate in the first half of this year.”

The other members of the Executive Management Team of NovalGen are:

• Professor Kerry Chester - Chief Scientific Officer. Kerry is a UCL Professor of Molecular Medicine at with over 25 years’ experience in antibody engineering and phage-display technology and has been named one of the top 50 Global Antibody Industry Influencers by The European Antibody Congress.

• Dr Natalia Misciattelli - Chief Business Officer. Natalia is an experienced life sciences executive with over 20 years’ industry experience. She joined NovalGen from Freeline where she previously served as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Operations from the preclinical stage through to completion of a successful US Nasdaq listing.

• Dr Peter Phillips - Senior Vice President for Clinical Development & Regulatory Affairs. Peter is a pharmaceutical physician with over 20 years’ industry experience. He joined NovalGen from UCB Pharma where he served as Head of Immunology Translational Medicine, responsible for clinical development of a diverse portfolio of biologics and small molecules for rheumatology and other immunology indications.  
• Dr Kieran O’Donovan - Senior Vice President for CMC. Kieran has more than 25 years’ experience in the biotech/biopharma industry. He joined NovalGen from ReNeuron where he served as Director of CMC, leading the development, manufacture and clinical supply of their allogenic stem cell therapies.

·       Nilesh Modi - Chief Operating Officer. Nilesh is a seasoned strategy and operations executive with over 20 years’ leadership experience working for top strategic research and advisory firms and spearheading the growth of start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. He led transformation and growth initiatives for globally leading companies, such as eBay, Apple, HSBC, Microsoft, FedEx, and HP, among others.