Industry Leader Brings Decades of Strategic Clinical and Cell Therapy Expertise as Orna Advances New Class of panCAR™ in vivo CAR RNA Medicines
WATERTOWN, Mass. April 11, 2024 – Orna Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to designing and delivering a new class of fully engineered circular RNA therapeutics (oRNA®), today announced that Frank Neumann, M.D., Ph.D., will join the Company as Chief Medical Officer. In addition, Dr. Neumann will join MPM BioImpact, which built and led the launch of Orna, as an Entrepreneur Partner.
“We are delighted to welcome Frank, an accomplished leader with a proven track record in CAR-based cell therapy and clinical development,” said Tom Barnes, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Orna Therapeutics. “His deep industry expertise, from proof-of-concept to clinical evaluation and beyond, will serve Orna well as we reshape RNA therapeutics to realize new treatment possibilities in hematological malignancies, autoimmune diseases and beyond.”
“Orna’s truly innovative approach to RNA therapeutics shows incredible promise to fundamentally change the way life-threatening diseases are treated,” said Dr. Neumann. “I very much look forward to supporting this work to deliver new medicines for patients.”
“Frank is a distinguished expert in advancing cell therapies into the clinic and through regulatory milestones,” said Ansbert Gadicke, M.D., Chairman of the Board, Orna, and Managing Partner, MPM BioImpact. “I am confident he will make significant contributions to the advancements and applications of Orna’s novel circular RNA technology.”
Dr. Neumann will join Orna from Kite, a Gilead Company, where he currently serves as Senior Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Development. He previously held positions as Chief Medical Officer at Verastem, Inc. (also known as Verastem Oncology) and as Vice President, Head of Oncology Clinical Research at bluebird bio. In addition, Dr. Neumann served as clinical development head for all of Takeda Pharmaceuticals cell therapy approaches globally, and held various leadership roles of increasing prominence, including global clinical lead and medical team lead for two distinct cancer therapies. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the oncology medical teams at AstraZeneca and Sanofi-Aventis.
In addition to his extensive industry experience, Dr. Neumann is board certified in Hematology/Oncology, Internal Medicine and Palliative Care Medicine. He was a research scholar at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and is currently an assistant professor at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany. He earned his M.D. from the Heinrich Heine University and his Ph.D. from the Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Bonn, Germany.
About Orna Therapeutics
Orna Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to designing and delivering a new class of fully engineered circular RNA (oRNA®) therapeutics with the potential to change the way we treat disease. Orna’s proprietary platform combines novel technology to design circular RNA transcripts that drive protein expression with validated and unique delivery solutions. oRNA® has many advantages over traditional mRNA approaches, including simplified production, improved formulatability, and superior protein expression – making it a highly disruptive, new class of RNA therapeutics with vast potential to change patient’s lives. To learn more visit: www.ornatx.com and follow Orna Therapeutics on Twitter and LinkedIn.
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