T-CURX announces senior leadership appointments
T-CURX completes formation of highly experienced clinical team to rapidly advance clinical translation of its next-generation CAR-T cell therapies
T-CURX GmbH announces the appointment of Professor Michael Hudecek, MD, co-founder of T-CURX and a member of its Scientific Advisory Board, as its new Chief Medical Officer (CMO), and the appointment of Karl Schumacher, MD, an industry-experienced MD with many years of experience in conducting oncology clinical trials in an industry setting, as its new Chief Clinical Officer (CCO). Both appointments are effective immediately. With the addition of these high-profile medical experts to the T-CURX executive team, the Company has completed the formation of a highly experienced clinical team to rapidly advance the clinical translation of its next-generation CAR-T cell therapies.
Prof. Michael Hudecek is one of the scientific co-founders of T-CURX and is part of the Company’s Scientific Advisory Board. Michael will now also join the T-CURX management team as part-time CMO. In this new role, he will provide direct input and hands-on support for T-CURX’s clinical trials, focused on the use of CAR-T cells in treating cancer. He will also continue his research as a full Professor for Cellular Immunotherapy at Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Germany, from which T-CURX holds an exclusive licence for CAR-T innovations coming out of Michael’s laboratory. After post-doctoral research on CAR-T cells in Stan Riddell’s group at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, US, Michael has built a research group of approximately 40 team members as the Chair in Cellular Immunotherapy at the Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Germany, focused on the development of next-generation CAR-T cell therapies. Michael is a leading European CAR-T cell expert, having published over 75 peer reviewed publications that collectively have been cited > 9,000 times, received numerous awards and honours, and developed a portfolio of patent applications and granted patents in the field.
Dr. Karl Schumacher is an industry-experienced medical doctor with significant experience in oncology clinical trial management, from Investigational New Drug (IND) applications to initiating early-stage, first-in-human trials, through to late-stage, pivotal clinical trials supporting marketing authorisation of medicinal products worldwide. Karl will be directly involved in the management of T-CURX’s clinical trials, including overseeing clinical trial sites, principal investigators and CROs. Karl has held leadership positions at large pharmaceutical companies, including Merck KGaA, Novartis AG and Sandoz AG and he recently served as the Chief Medical Officer of a Basel, Switzerland-based biotech company, Tolremo.
Dr. Ulf Grawunder, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of T-CURX, commented: “I could not be more delighted that Michael and Karl are joining the T-CURX management team. Both are experienced medical doctors in the fields of CAR-T, haematology and oncology, who complete our clinical development team as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Clinical Officer, respectively. Michael and Karl will perfectly complement each other with Michael’s vast experience in CAR-T research and early clinical translation, and Karl’s significant expertise in conducting early to late-stage clinical trials in cancer indications in industry settings. With this combined know-how and expertise in the field of CAR-T research and oncology, Michael and Karl will accelerate our clinical trial activities for developing next-generation CAR-T therapies using our highly scalable non-viral CAR-T technologies.”
Prof. Michael Hudecek, Chief Medical Officer of T-CURX, commented: “I am excited to join T-CURX’s C-level management team directly supporting and guiding its CAR-T cell clinical trial activities. It is a privilege that the Universitätsklinikum Würzburg allowed me to assume a leading role as part-time Chief Medical Officer in T-CURX alongside my CAR-T research activities as full Professor for Cellular Immunotherapy at the University. I am very much looking forward to contributing to the future success of T-CURX.”
Dr. Karl Schumacher, Chief Clinical Officer of T-CURX, commented: “I am thrilled to join the management team of T-CURX as Chief Clinical Officer, ensuring that T-CURX’s CAR-T cell clinical trials will be executed in the most efficient way. I have been deeply impressed by the expertise and know-how of the T-CURX team in developing novel CAR-T therapies and their approach to make effective CAR-T therapies available for many more cancer patients, eventually also including patients in solid tumour indications. I am delighted to be part of this outstanding team and highly promising company in the CAR-T cell field.”
T-CURX was co-founded by Prof. Michael Hudecek, MD, University of Würzburg, Germany, Prof. Christoph Rader, PhD, The Scripps Research Institute and University of Florida, US, and its Chief Executive Officer, Ulf Grawunder, PhD. The Company is a German biotech spin-out from the University of Würzburg and is pioneering next-generation CAR-T cell therapies to target various types and stages of cancer of high unmet need with an ambition to democratise transformative personalised CAR-T immunotherapies. Today’s announcement follows the strengthening of the Company’s management team over the past year with the appointments of Dr. Ulf Grawunder as Chief Executive Officer in October 2022 and Tom Loeser as Chief Financial Officer in January 2023.
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