On June 10, 2019 F-star, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company delivering tetravalent bispecific antibodies for a paradigm-shift in cancer therapy, reported the appointment of Louis Kayitalire, MD, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), which will be effective on 17 June 2019 (Press release, f-star, JUN 10, 2019, View Source [SID1234536980]).
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F-star believes this newly created management position will be crucial to F-star’s transition to a wholly-owned portfolio strategy as it expands its clinical operation capabilities and accelerates progression of its proprietary pipeline.
Dr Kayitalire will oversee the clinical development of F-star’s lead product candidate, FS118, a LAG-3/PD-L1-targeting tetravalent bispecific antibody currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial, recruiting the expansion cohorts of the two highest dose levels. He will also lead the clinical strategy and operations for F-star’s pipeline of potential first- and best-in-class immuno-oncology bispecific antibody therapeutics, including FS120 and FS222, two proprietary product candidates currently in cGMP production and on track for investigational new drug application submissions this year.
Louis Kayitalire said: "This is an exciting time for me to join F-star as the company pivots to a wholly-owned portfolio strategy and accelerates the clinical development of its pipeline. As we saw at the recent ASCO (Free ASCO Whitepaper) meeting, bispecific antibodies are leading a paradigm shift in cancer care and the potential to improve the outcome for cancer patients has never been greater. I believe F-star is ideally positioned to become the next leader in this field."
Dr Kayitalire will bring over 20 years’ experience in oncology and immuno-oncology, having previously held positions at major pharmaceutical companies including Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene and Eli Lilly. Dr Kayitalire has strong commercial acumen to complement his extensive clinical expertise with a proven track record of developing and delivering clinical research programmes and ensuring alignment with overall medical and commercial strategies. Dr Kayitalire completed his medical training at Butare University, Rwanda and later held a position as Assistant Professor in Oncology at the Paris XI University of France. He is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (Free ASCO Whitepaper) and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper).
Eliot Forster, CEO of F-star, said: "We are delighted to welcome Louis to the F-star team. His oncology expertise and extensive experience advancing clinical research programmes will be invaluable at this stage in F-star’s evolution as we accelerate development of our lead product candidate, FS118, and work to rapidly progress more assets into the clinic."