Cantargia strengthens the company management team
Cantargia AB (publ) (Cantargia) announced today that Nedjad Losic has been employed as VP Biometrics at Cantargia from 1 September 2021. He will be part of the management team where he will contribute with his extensive experience, from e.g. development of daratumumab at Genmab, of antibodies for cancer treatment.
Cantargia's research portfolio has developed well, and preparations are underway to advance to late stage clinical development phase. In connection with this, the management team has been strengthened in statistics, and data management, two future key activities. Nedjad Losic has unique competence in these areas and will take responsibility for both.
Nedjad Losic, who most recently held a position at Y-mAbs Therapeutics Inc., has 25 years of experience in pharmaceutical drug development, including 16 years with antibodies in oncology. He had key roles in the development and market approvals of daratumumab (multiple myeloma), ofatumumab (chronic lymphocytic leukemia) and naxitamab (neuroblastoma). Nedjad has also been CEO at Spadille Sweden as well as Board Member of Genmab A/S. He holds a M. Sc. in Mathematics, from the University of Lund.
“We are pleased to have Nedjad in Cantargia's organization. With his extensive experience from development of antibodies for cancer treatment and interactions with regulatory authorities, he will have an important function in the company when we take the next step in the clinical development program with our main project nadunolimab," says Göran Forsberg, CEO of Cantargia.
For further information, please contact
Göran Forsberg, CEO
Telephone: +46 (0)46-275 62 60
E-mail: goran.forsberg@cantargia.com
The information was submitted for publication at 09.00 CET on 1 September 2021.
About Cantargia
Cantargia AB (publ), reg. no. 556791-6019, is a biotechnology company that develops antibody-based treatments for life-threatening diseases. The basis for this is the protein IL1RAP that is involved in a number of diseases and where Cantargia has established a platform. The main project, the antibody CAN04, is being studied clinically as combination therapy with chemotherapy or immune therapy with a primary focus on non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. Positive interim data from the combination with chemotherapy indicate stronger efficacy than would be expected from chemotherapy alone. Cantargia’s second project, the antibody CAN10, addresses treatment of serious autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, with initial focus on systemic sclerosis and myocarditis.
Cantargia is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ticker: CANTA). More information about Cantargia is available at www.cantargia.com.
About nadunolimab (CAN04)
The antibody CAN04 binds strongly to the target IL1RAP and functions both through ADCC as well as blocking IL-1α and IL-1β signaling. Thereby, CAN04 can counteract the contribution of the IL-1 system to the immune suppressive tumor microenvironment and development of resistance to chemotherapy. CAN04 is investigated in three ongoing clinical trials. In the first phase I/IIa-study, CANFOUR, first line combination therapy is investigated using two different standard chemotherapies in patients with NSCLC (gemcitabine/cisplatin) and patients with PDAC (gemcitabine/nab-paclitaxel), as well as monotherapy in late stage patients (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03267316). Phase I monotherapy data from 22 patients were presented at ASCO 2019 and showed good safety with infusion-related reaction being the most common side effect. In addition, the biomarkers IL-6 and CRP decreased during treatment. Positive interim data from the combination therapies show durable responses or pseudoprogression in patients with PDAC, resulting in iPFS of 7.8 months, and also a higher response rate of patients with NSCLC, compared to chemotherapy alone. A phase I study, CAPAFOUR, was initiated in H1 2021 and will investigate CAN04 in combination with the chemotherapy regimen FOLFIRINOX for first line treatment of metastatic PDAC (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04990037). A phase I study, CIRIFOUR, is also currently investigating CAN04 in combination with an immune checkpoint inhibitor and was started H2 2020 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04452214). Additional clinical combination studies are planned to start during 2021.