HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Diakonos Oncology Corp., a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, announced today that Laura Aguilar, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Aguilar, a physician-scientist and biotech entrepreneur, has over 20 years of experience in clinical and regulatory development of complex biologics for cancer with a focus on solid tumors including glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Aguilar was co-founder of Advantagene (now Candel Therapeutics) where she served as chief medical officer. She was a leader in the company’s strategic development from inception to successful IPO, and she oversaw the company’s clinical development portfolio of viral immuno-oncology products in four disease indications.
She also was an attending physician at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Boston Children’s Hospital and associate director of the Harvard Gene Therapy Initiative at Harvard Medical School. She currently serves on several boards including the Board of the American Brain Tumor Association.
“We are honored to welcome Dr. Aguilar to the Diakonos management team,” said Diakonos Chief Executive Officer Mike Wicks. “Her entrepreneurial background, clinical development expertise and physician-patient experience will be essential in advancing our pipeline of highly differentiated dendritic cell vaccines, including our lead product, DOC1021, which will enter a Phase 2 clinical trial for glioblastoma (GBM) patients later this year.”
“I have dedicated my career to caring for cancer patients and developing new, more effective treatments to relieve their suffering,” said Dr. Aguilar. “I believe Diakonos’ dendritic cell vaccines may represent a first-of-its kind strategy for engaging a complete immune response to attack cancer. I look forward to working with my colleagues in their efforts to bring this new technology to patients.”
Dr. Aguilar earned her M.D. and Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Baylor College of Medicine. She completed her clinical residency in pediatrics and fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Diakonos also named Deancy Okoebor as Director of Clinical Operations and Eva Highberg Schuman as Project Coordinator.
Ms. Okoebor, who has more than 11 years of experience in cancer clinical research, previously was clinical operations lead at Syneos Health and held clinical research positions at InVentiv Health Clinical, Quintiles, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She earned her B.S. degree in biology at University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and is studying for a Master’s degree in Health Services Administration at Strayer University.
Ms. Schumann previously was a clinical research coordinator at University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston in the neuro-oncology department, and a clinical research technician at the Indiana University School of Medicine. She earned her B.S. degree in neurobiology and physiology at Purdue University.
“We also welcome Ms. Okoebor and Ms. Schumann in joining us in our mission to help patients suffering from the deadliest cancers,” Mr. Wicks said. “Their experience will make important contributions to our drug development program.”
About DOC1021
DOC1021 is an autologous dendritic cell vaccine (DCV) that initiates a complete cytotoxic TH1 immune response against a patient’s cancer through the company’s proprietary double loading technology. The vaccines are made with a patient’s dendritic cells combined with RNA and proteins prepared from a sample of their tumor.
This unique approach unlocks a synergistic tumor killing TH1 response driven by dual protein and RNA antigen sourcing, and it allows targeting of the complete cancer antigen profile. Moreover, the approach does not require any genetic modification of the patient’s immune cells for manufacturing, and does not require preconditioning of bone marrow or high dose IL-2 for administration.
In addition to the lead GBM study, a clinical trial of another Diakonos’ dendritic cell vaccine is ongoing for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Diakonos has received Fast Track designations from the FDA for both the GBM and pancreatic cancer programs. The company has also received Orphan Drug Designation for the GBM program.
About Diakonos Oncology Corp.
Based out of Houston, TX, Diakonos Oncology is a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to revolutionizing cancer immunotherapy and focusing on difficult-to-treat indications, including glioblastoma. A variant of the DOC1021 treatment platform also is in early-stage clinical testing in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). For more information visit: www.diakonosoncology.com.
