Investment Trends in Immuno-Oncology

Axel Hoos, MD, PhD, was most recently the CEO of Scorpion Therapeutics. Prior to this, Dr Hoos was Senior Vice President and Therapeutic Area Head, Oncology R&D at GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals (GSK).As leader of the Oncology TA he oversaw both its discovery and development functions and built the Oncology portfolio of GSK across several modalities including antibodies, small molecules, bispecific molecules and cell & gene therapies. The TA’s scientific focus is on Immuno-Oncology, Epigenetics and Cell Therapy. Dr Hoos also served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the HIV Cure Center, a co-venture of GSK and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.Dr Hoos further serves as Executive Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabin Vaccine Institute (SVI), a Global Health organization, Non-executive Director on the Board of Imugene, a biotech company, Co-Chairman of the Cancer Immunotherapy Consortium (CIC) and Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Cancer Research Institute (CRI). He further is a Scientific Advisory Group member at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), and Industry Co-Chair of the Partnership for Acceleration Cancer Therapies (PACT) of the US Cancer Moonshot.His efforts in Medicines Development and Global Health focus on novel and transformational therapies for life-threatening diseases, scientific and procedural innovation, and broad collaboration across multiple constituents to solve complex health problems. Through his leadership, a new paradigm for the development of cancer immunotherapies has been defined, which helped launch the field of Immuno-Oncology.Previously, Dr Hoos was the Global Medical Lead in Immunology/Oncology at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he developed Yervoy (Ipilimumab), the first life-extending therapy in Immuno-Oncology. Before BMS, Dr Hoos was Senior Director of Clinical Development at Agenus Bio (previously Antigenics), a biotech company.Dr Hoos holds an MD from Ruprecht-Karls-University and a PhD in molecular oncology from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) both in Heidelberg, Germany. He trained in surgery at the Technical University in Munich, Germany and further in surgery, molecular pathology and tumor immunology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He is an alumnus of the Program for Leadership Development at Harvard Business School.

Emmett Schmidt, MD, PhD, received his undergraduate degree in Biology from Harvard College in 1974 and a simultaneous MA in Biology. He received MD and PhD degrees having attended medical school and graduate school at the Duke University School of Medicine from 1975 to 1981. He completed internship, residency and fellowship in Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.   Dr Schmidt was at the Massachusetts General Hospital of the Harvard Medical School from 1998 until 2010. Starting as a founding member of the MGH Cancer Center, Dr Schmidt became a full professor in 2004 and served as the Associate Chief of the Department of Pediatrics from 2002 until 2010. Highlights of his research career include: the experimental demonstration that cyclin D1 can function as a driver oncogene in breast cancer; studies of the mechanisms by which cell growth drives cell division; initial demonstrations that c-Myc has a primary function in regulating cell growth; and development of a range of transgenic models of cancers (lymphoma, gastric, HCC, and breast). Clinical highlights of his time at MGH included running a small pediatric HIV unit, co-founding the Pediatric Hospitalist Group and directing the Pediatric Residency from 1996 until 2010. Along the way he was the PI or co-PI for the following: six RO1s, one UO1, and two SPORE projects from the NIH; an ACS RIG; a MacDonnell Scholar grant; as well as grants from the Brain Tumor Society, the Hood Foundation, Sumitomo Pharmaceuticals, and the Pfeiffer Research Foundation. He was elected a member of the two academic Pediatric leadership societies including the Society for Pediatric Research in 1997 and the American Pediatric Society in 2000.Dr Schmidt joined Merck in 2011.  Initially recruited to Experimental Medicine, his early assignments included the First-in-Human study of MK-8353 (ERK inhibitor), and evaluation of a clinically-derived biomarker for MK-0646 (anti-IGFR) in colorectal cancer. Subsequent studies as part of the Oncology group included a broad portfolio of studies of MK-2206 (AKT inhibitor) encompassing four internal studies, 31 National Cancer Institute-sponsored studies and the I-SPY2 breast cancer collaboration.  Subsequent assignments included clinical lead roles for the vintafolide program, and for the First-in-Human study of MK-4166, an inhibitor of the glucocorticoid-induced TNFR family related gene (GITR). In 2013 Dr Schmidt joined the pembrolizumab team taking on key responsibilities for developing phase 3 registration studies in adjuvant melanoma (053 and 054) as well as the first-line head and neck trial (048). Dr Schmidt has supported successful filing activities for pembrolizumab both within and outside of the United States. As part of the pembrolizumab melanoma team Dr Schmidt was the clinical lead for Keynotes 002, 027, 053, and 054. He has been part of the filing teams for 001, 002, and 006, as well as representing the Melanoma clinical team for global filing activities.He currently leads the External Collaborations PDT whose studies include over 120 partnered studies of clinical combinations of pembrolizumab and a broad portfolio of other cancer drugs.   Dr Schmidt was promoted to Vice President Clinical Oncology, External Collaborations in 2022.

Irina Margine, PhD, is a private equity principal on the Wellington Private Equity Team, where she focuses on private company investing in the area of Biotechnology. Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2019, Dr Margine was on the Equity Research Team at Cowen and Co., covering small and mid-cap biotechnology companies. Previously, she worked in risk management within JPMorgan’s wholesale lending businesses. Dr Margine earned her PhD in microbiology from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and her master of science in biomolecular sciences from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Khalil Barrage (BA ‘87) is a Managing Director at The Invus Group, LLC and Chief Investment Officer of Invus Public Equities. He is based in New York, where he leads the biotech public equity investment strategy, co-leads public/private investing team, and manages global teams of investment professionals across offices in New York, Paris and Hong Kong. Mr Barrage joined Invus in 2003 to build a public equity investing strategy to complement the firm’s history in private equity. Assets Under management in the biotech sector stand over $3 billion and over the past two decades, He and his team have established Invus as an investment partner-of-choice for public and private companies, with a particular record of backing emerging and innovative biotechnology companies. Prior to Invus, Mr Barrage started his investment carer at The Olayan Group, a multinational, multibillion dollar investment enterprise with origins in Saudi Arabia. He joined Olayan in 1988, rising through the ranks to manage the firm’s U.S. portfolio of equity investments. He is a frequent speaker on biotechnology and investment panels and is the co-founder of Biosciences Lebanese International Network (Biolink.org), a global networking platform for life science professionals of Lebanese descent. He serves as interim Chair of the board of Sensorion, and is a member of the boards of ElevateBio, Valerio Therapeutics, Orthobond and Protagenic Therapeutics. As part of his philanthropic engagement, Mr Barrage serves on the boards of the Children of Armenia Fund, LIFE Gen Lebanon and Solving Kids’ Cancer. He earned a BA in Economics from American University of Beirut in 1987.

Jeffrey Bockman, PhD, leads the Oncology and Virology Practices at Lumanity. Dr Bockman has extensive commercial and strategic perspective on the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. He has directed hundreds of in-depth licensing opportunities and valuation assessments during his tenure at Cello Health BioConsulting, now Lumanity. He often speaks at conferences on scientific and commercial issues in cancer, especially immuno-oncology. Before joining Cello Health BioConsulting, Dr Bockman was a Senior Research Scientist and Research Project Leader in the commercial development of oligonucleotide therapeutics for viral diseases and cancer at Innovir Laboratories; and an Assistant Research Professor at The George Washington University School of Medicine. He has worked closely with two Nobel Prize recipients – Dr Sidney Altman on ribozymes, and Dr Stanley Prusiner on prions – and holds four patents in the use of ribozymes. He received a BA from University of California at San Diego, a PhD in Medical Microbiology from the University of California at Berkeley and an MA in English/Creative Writing from New York University. Dr Bockman is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the American Society of Hematology (ASH), the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT), the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) and the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS). Dr Bockman is a mentor for the NCI Innovation Conference, a judge for the Citeline Awards, an advisor to the JPM Biotech Showcase and a member of the Advisory "Group" to Skipper Bio Med (a preclinical research consultancy that provides pro bono services to academic and industry groups, developing promising lung and/or pancreatic cancer therapeutics/device. Skipper is fully supported by a private US family that has been personally impacted by these cancers and is committed to bridging the research “valley of death”). Dr Bockman is also part of the Clinical Advisory Board of ImmunOS (an immunotherapy company based in Zurich) and the Scientific Advisory Board of hC Bioscience (a novel RNA-based platform company in Cambridge, MA).

As Head of Transactions, Business Development at AstraZeneca, Gayatri Varma, PhD, currently oversees transactional activity for Oncology R&D. During her time at AstraZeneca, Dr Varma has led and negotiated many transactions including the acquisition of Neogene Therapeutics and in-licensing of several oncology clinical-stage assets, and in-licensing activities for COVID-19. Previously, she held positions as Director of Partnerships & Collaborations at MedImmune, and Executive Director, University of Maryland, heading the technology transfer office with focus on out-licensing activities. Dr Varma has a PhD in Molecular & Cellular Biology and is a registered patent agent. She recently served on the Board of AUTM and continues to serve on their Industry Advisory and Equity, Diversity & Inclusion committees. She is also chair of the Licensing Executive Society’s Life Sciences Sector Leadership committee. Dr Varma is very engaged in the local life sciences community and has led ecosystem building in the Gaithersburg region.