- Elizabeth Holt, with a proven
track record of forging successful life sciences partnerships,
appointed as Chief Business Officer (CBO)
- Dr Mark Velleca appointed as
Board Chair, bringing considerable experience in company building
and drug development
GENEVA and AMSTERDAM, March 17,
2025 /PRNewswire/ -- iOnctura, a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company combating neglected and hard-to-treat
cancers, today announces the appointments of Elizabeth Holt as Chief Business Officer (CBO)
and Dr Mark Velleca as Chair of the
Board of Directors.
Elizabeth is a seasoned corporate strategist, company founder
and senior leader, with a track record of successfully negotiated
fundraises, partnerships and exits. Most recently she co-founded
Aiolos Bio Inc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company
dedicated to respiratory disease. The company was acquired by GSK
in February 2024 for a total value of
$1.4B. She also played a key role in
the strategy, fundraising and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
activities at Gyroscope Therapeutics, which was acquired by
Novartis for up to $1.5bn in
2022.
Prior to her career in biopharmaceuticals, she was an Associate
Partner with McKinsey & Company where she advised senior
management in life sciences and healthcare on a range of strategy,
organization and M&A projects. She holds an MBA from NYU Stern
School of Business and an MSc from the London
School of Economics.
Dr. Mark Velleca is currently the
CEO and Board Chair of Black Diamond Therapeutics (BDTX) and also
serves as Board Chair of Myeloid Therapeutics. Mark served as CEO
of G1 Therapeutics (GTHX) until 2021, when he took the company
public and led the development of its first therapy (COSELA®) from
IND filing to FDA approval. Mark was a co-founder and Senior Vice
President of CGI Pharmaceuticals, where he managed the company from
its inception through clinical trials of multiple drug candidates.
After Gilead Sciences acquired CGI, he served as a Senior Advisor
to Gilead in R&D Strategy and Corporate Development.
Earlier in his career, Mark was an attending physician at Yale
New Haven Hospital and on the faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine. Mark earned an
M.D. and Ph.D. from Washington
University in St. Louis,
and a B.S. from Yale University.
Catherine Pickering, CEO and
co-founder of iOnctura said, 'Following our significant
financing round in June last year, we continue to build a
world-class leadership team to take iOnctura through into its next
phase and beyond. Our team is carefully selected. Mark and
Elizabeth have significant healthcare and corporate experience
which will be invaluable as we progress our innovative pipeline
through clinical development.'
Elizabeth Holt said, 'With
my career background in clinical-stage biopharmaceutical companies,
and having extensive knowledge of the life sciences industry, I was
particularly drawn to iOnctura because of the pioneering spirit of
the leadership team and the significant progress made by iOnctura
in the advancement of roginolisib in a number of oncology
indications. It's an exciting time to join them on this
journey.'
Dr Velleca added, 'I have been following iOnctura's
bold mission to redefine the PI3Kδ landscape. Roginolisib is the
first highly selective PI3Kδ inhibitor in development that
overcomes the selectivity liabilities of prior drugs for this
promising target. I look forward to working with Catherine, the
leadership team, and the board as the Company accelerates
development of this program.'
About iOnctura
iOnctura is a clinical-stage precision oncology company
combating neglected and hard-to-treat cancers with a pipeline of
first-in-class small molecules. The bold new treatments extend
lives and improve healthspans, changing the outlook for patients
and their families. Lead asset, roginolisib, is an allosteric
modulator of PI3Kδ with a unique chemical structure and binding
mode. Allosteric modulation is a new archetype for precise
inhibition of PI3Kδ, promising clinical activity without the
detrimental tolerability seen with previous generations of
inhibitors. Roginolisib is currently being investigated in multiple
randomized Phase II studies in solid and haematological
malignancies. iOnctura BV is headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands with its wholly
owned Swiss subsidiary, iOnctura SA, located in Geneva, Switzerland. iOnctura is backed by
specialist institutional investors including Syncona, M Ventures,
Inkef Capital, EIC Fund, VI Partners, Schroders Capital and XGEN
Venture.
View original
content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/ionctura-strengthens-leadership-with-appointments-of-chief-business-officer-and-board-chair-302402129.html
