KaliVir Immunotherapeutics, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of next generation oncolytic vaccinia virus immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Terry Hermiston, Ph.D., and Jon Wigginton, M.D., to the company’s board of directors. Both gentleman bring decades of cancer immunotherapy development experience to KaliVir.
“We are thrilled to have Terry and Jon join our board of directors given their years and collective depth of very relevant experiences that can be applied as we plan our clinical development and regulatory strategies,” stated Helena H. Chaye, Ph.D., J.D., chief executive officer of KaliVir. “We continue to be very encouraged by the preclinical data we are collecting and believe that our oncolytic vaccinia virus immunotherapies will ultimately help many cancer patients who are looking for effective alternatives.”
“KaliVir is pursuing something truly novel—an entirely new generation of oncolytic virus therapies that intermingle both the inhibition of a well-known cancer culprit, STAT3, as well as many modifications to enhance tumor selectivity and ultimately the efficacy of the product. I am very optimistic about the future for this exciting product platform,” stated Dr. Hermiston.
“Having been heavily involved in immuno-oncology drug development for many years, I can honestly say that KaliVir’s VET platform is one of the most exciting ideas I’ve come across given its ability to target the tumor in a multi-mechanistic way while simultaneously enhancing the patient’s anti-tumor immune response. I believe this program has an exciting future, and I’m pleased to be part of the team,” stated Dr. Wigginton.
Terry Hermiston, Ph.D., brings over 25 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience to KaliVir. He currently serves as CEO of GLAdiator Biosciences as well as CEO and founder of Coagulant Therapeutics. Prior to this, he was vice president and head of Bayer’s U.S. Innovation Center at San Francisco from 2007 to 2016. At Bayer, he headed the US Biologics research within Bayer HealthCare’s world-wide pharmaceutical research organization. Prior to that, Dr. Hermiston was scientific director for the Global Gene Therapy Research and Gene Technology Departments for Berlex Biosciences and its parent company, Schering AG. Before Berlex, he was head of Oncolytic Virus Research at Onyx Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Hermiston has published more than 60 research papers and reviews, and holds over 20 granted patents. He has served on the boards of directors of the California Healthcare Institute, BayBio, Biotech Partners, and Jennerex Biotherapeutics as well as on the scientific advisory boards of Psioxus Therapeutics and Avalanche Biotechnologies. Dr. Hermiston did his postdoctoral fellowship at the St. Louis University School of Medicine. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Iowa State University.
Jon Wigginton, M.D., brings over 25 years of oncology leadership experience to KaliVir. He has served most recently as chief medical officer at Cullinan Oncology and advisor at MPM Capital. Previously, Jon served as the chief medical officer and SVP clinical development at MacroGenics, where he led the company’s evolution of a fully-integrated, clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy organization. Previously, he served as the therapeutic area head, immuno-oncology, early clinical research at Bristol-Myers Squibb. There, he oversaw early clinical development of the BMS Immuno-Oncology portfolio including anti-PD-1, anti-PD-L1 and the anti-PD-1/anti-CTLA-4 combination program among several others. He also co-led the BMS International Immuno-Oncology Network. Dr. Wigginton also advises biotechnology companies and serves on the board of directors of Sutro Biopharma. During his academic career, Jon served as head of the investigational biologics section, Center for Cancer Research, NCI (intramural program), where he led an integrated basic, translational and clinical research effort focused on combination immunotherapy in preclinical models and early clinical studies. He also served previously as president of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). Jon received his M.D. and B.S. in Biology, with distinction, from the University of Michigan.
About KaliVir Immunotherapeutics
KaliVir Immunotherapeutics is an early-stage biotech company developing cutting-edge, next-generation oncolytic viral immunotherapy programs. The company has developed a unique vaccinia virus-based platform that can generate potent novel oncolytic vaccinia viruses with modifications to maximize viral replication and to enhance intravenous delivery and spread (Vaccinia Enhanced Template “VET” Platform). VET Platform utilizes the large transgene capacity of the vaccinia virus to deliver therapeutics matched to tumor immunophenotypes to stimulate patients’ immune systems and modify the tumor microenvironment. KaliVir’s oncolytic product candidates are designed to be safe, potent and systemically deliverable to treat cancer patients across multiple tumor types. KaliVir is now advancing multiple therapeutic candidates toward the clinic. For more information, please visit www.kalivir.com
