ProteinQure Strengthens Leadership Team with Key Appointments to Accelerate Translational and Clinical Development Programs

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / January 7, 2025 / ProteinQure, a leader in computational peptide design, is proud to announce the addition of two distinguished leaders to its team. Dr. Dave Garman has been appointed as Vice President of Translation and Development, and Dr. Edward Garmey has joined as consulting Chief Medical Officer. These strategic hires strengthen ProteinQure's ability to advance its clinical asset PQ203 and additional programs in their pipeline. PQ203 is a first-in-class peptide-drug conjugate targeting hormone receptor "triple" negative breast cancer.

Dave Garman, PhD, joins ProteinQure with extensive experience in translational research, including GMP manufacturing, preclinical development, and clinical operations. He has successfully led cross-functional teams in designing and executing programs that bridge discovery and development, including phase 1 to phase 3 clinical trials. As Vice President of Translation and Development, Dr. Garman will oversee the advancement of ProteinQure's clinical assets, focusing on operations, manufacturing, and regulatory strategies.

"ProteinQure's platform is redefining the potential of Peptide therapeutics," said Dr. Garman. "I am excited to contribute to the team's mission of bringing new, life-changing therapies to patients through the integration of computational design and experimental biology."

Dr. Edward Garmey, MD, has two decades of experience in oncology and translational medicine and a proven track record of advancing anti-cancer therapies from pre-clinical research to regulatory approvals. He has held key leadership roles in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies (including Bicycle Therapeutics, Circle Pharma, and Tagworks Pharmaceuticals), contributing to the successful development and commercialization of transformative therapies in oncology. As consulting Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Garmey will guide ProteinQure's clinical strategy for PQ203.

"I'm thrilled to join ProteinQure at such an exciting time," said Dr. Garmey. "The company's unique computational approach to peptide engineering has facilitated strong interest from world-class researchers and clinicians and the PQ203 phase 1 clinical trial is poised to address high unmet medical need in cancer patients. This novel target and approach with no existing approved therapies represents a tremendous opportunity for advancing the treatment of breast cancer."

"Edward and Dave bring an extraordinary level of expertise and leadership that will be instrumental as ProteinQure enters its next phase of growth," said Lucas Siow, CEO of ProteinQure. "Their combined 40+ years of experience in translational research, clinical development, and regulatory strategy will be invaluable as we advance PQ203 and aim to make a significant impact on patients' lives."

ProteinQure continues to push the boundaries of computational drug discovery, targeting complex diseases with novel protein therapeutics. With these new additions to its leadership team, the company is well-positioned to deliver on its vision of harnessing AI technologies to accelerate the tissue-specific delivery of therapeutics.

About PQ203:

PQ203 is a peptide-drug-conjugate (PDC) targeting sortilin (SORT1)-over-expressing cancers. Using ProteinStudio™ (our proprietary computational design platform), we generated a high affinity SORT1 targeting peptide that exhibits efficient receptor dependent internalization and lysosomal localization. A peptide drug conjugate (PDC) was generated via a linkage strategy that exhibits potent cell killing as well as tumor regression in TOP1 resistant models such as MDA-MB-231 triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cell derived xenograft model, thereby highlighting the potential of SORT1-engaging PDCs as an efficacious targeted chemotherapeutic delivery strategy. TNBC diagnosis is associated with a 12% 5-year survival rate and limited targeted therapy options. SORT1 is also overexpressed in other solid tumors, including colon and ovarian cancer. More information about PQ203 and the rest of ProteinQure's pipeline here: https://www.proteinqure.com/pipeline/

For media inquiries please contact Lucas Siow at lucas@proteinqure.com

SOURCE: ProteinQure Inc.