Myricx Expands its ADC Expertise with the Appointment of Francesca Zammarchi as CSO

London, UK, 4 October 2023 – Myricx Bio (‘Myricx’), a UK biotech company focusing on the discovery and development of a completely novel class of selectively cytotoxic payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), today announces the appointment of Francesca Zammarchi Ph.D. as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO).

Dr Zammarchi joins Myricx as it accelerates the development of its pipeline of ADCs based on its first-in-class N-myristoyltransferase inhibitor (NMTi) payload platform. She brings over two decades of cancer biology research experience, including developing ADCs, gained working in the biopharma industry and in academia. At Myricx, as a senior member of the Leadership Team, she will be responsible for the company’s internal and partnered scientific programmes.

She joins Myricx from ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE: ADCT) where she served as Head of Preclinical Pharmacology. During her 10 years at ADC Therapeutics, she worked as a cancer biologist actively involved in the discovery and evaluation of new projects for the company's portfolio, with responsibility for preclinical pharmacology studies, and progressed multiple ADCs with novel payloads through IND to BLA. Her earlier academic career included Research Associate at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre, and Research Associate and Visiting Fellow at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr Zammarchi gained her Ph.D. in experimental and molecular oncology and her B.Sc. in molecular biology from the University of Pisa, Italy.

Welcoming Francesca to the company, Myricx CEO Dr Robin Carr said: “As we advance our unique ADC pipeline against important cancer targets, Francesca’s impressive background in ADC discovery and development provides an ideal skillset to lead our programmes as CSO. We believe our first-in-class selective cytotoxic payloads based on potent inhibitors of N-myristoyltransferase (NMT) will provide important advantages in the development of differentiated ADC therapeutics.”

Dr Francesca Zammarchi, CSO at Myricx, said: “Having spent over a decade in R&D of novel ADC payloads, I am impressed by Myricx’s preclinical data showing the potential of NMT inhibitors to become the backbone of a new class of ADC drugs with selective cancer cell killing activity. I look forward to working with the Myricx team to expand and advance its ADC discovery pipeline.”

Dr Zammarchi will join the Myricx Bio team at its headquarters in Kings Cross, London.

About Myricx Bio - www.myricxbio.com 

Myricx Bio (“Myricx”) is a UK biotech company focused on the discovery and development of a completely novel class of selective cytotoxic payloads for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), based on inhibitors of N-myristoyltransferases (NMT) for the treatment of cancer.

NMT is an enzyme that adds a specific lipid modification to a number of protein targets key to cancer cell survival. Myricx is advancing a pipeline of ADCs to address serious unmet needs in oncology based on its NMT inhibitor (NMTi) payload chemistry platform and has demonstrated excellent preclinical efficacy and safety across multiple solid tumour-associated antigens and cancer cell types.

Based in London, Myricx is a spin out from Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute with investment from Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital Partners.

Myricx Bio is the trading name of Myricx Pharma Limited.