Epitopea Appoints Klaus Edvardsen M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer

/EIN News/ -- CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom and MONTREAL, Feb. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Epitopea, a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company developing accessible off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies, announces the appointment of Dr. Klaus Edvardsen as its new Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Edvardsen, an accomplished oncology innovator and development leader, brings decades of clinical and strategic expertise to Epitopea as the company advances its pipeline of transformational cancer immunotherapies.

Klaus joins Epitopea after serving as Chief Development Officer (CDO) at Nykode Therapeutics, where he oversaw clinical development, regulatory affairs, and project management across oncology, infectious diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Prior to Nykode, he was CDO and CMO at CureVac, where he led development programs spanning oncology, infectious diseases, and rare diseases. He was also Senior Vice President and Head of Global Oncology Development at Merck Healthcare KgaA, where he was accountable for all aspects of early and late-stage development in oncology.

During his four-year tenure at AstraZeneca as Senior Vice President, Head of Global Medicines Development Oncology, Klaus played a pivotal role in the development and regulatory approvals of groundbreaking therapies, including Tagrisso^®, Lynparza^®, and Calquence^®. His leadership was instrumental in securing the fastest FDA and EMA approval for Tagrisso in non-small cell lung cancer and in advancing Lynparza for multiple indications, including ovarian and metastatic breast cancers. Klaus has also driven strategic partnerships, such as the joint development of Lynparza with Merck/MSD.

Earlier in his pharmaceutical industry career, Klaus held senior oncology-focused positions at GSK, Genmab, and Aventis (Sanofi). During his academic career he was a Professor in Experimental Cancer Research at Lund University, Sweden, a Professor in Cell Biology at the University of Bergen, Norway, and an Associate Professor in the Protein Laboratory at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.

Dr. Klaus Edvardsen, Epitopea’s new Chief Medical Officer, commented, “I am truly honored to join Epitopea at this pivotal time in its journey. The company’s pioneering work in leveraging Cryptigens™ as a novel class of tumor-specific antigens offers a unique opportunity to redefine cancer immunotherapy. I look forward to collaborating with Epitopea’s talented team to drive the development of transformational therapies that can address significant unmet needs for patients with hard-to-treat cancers.”

Dr. Alan C. Rigby, CEO of Epitopea, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Klaus to our executive leadership team at such an important stage in Epitopea’s growth. Klaus’s experience and expertise in oncology drug development and his proven track record of leading innovative therapies from concept to regulatory approval will be instrumental as we advance our pipeline into clinical trials. His leadership undoubtedly strengthens our mission to develop durable, off-the-shelf cancer immunotherapies that can profoundly improve patient outcomes.”

Dr. Edvardsen’s appointment comes as Epitopea continues to build on its groundbreaking discoveries of Cryptigens™, a new class of aberrantly expressed tumor-specific antigens uniquely shared across multiple patients with the same tumor type. Using its proprietary CryptoMap™ platform, Epitopea is pioneering the identification and exploitation of these antigens to develop RNA-based immunotherapies targeting cancers with significant unmet medical needs.

The expansion of Epitopea’s leadership team and scientific expertise continue to position the company as a trailblazer in the field of RNA-immunotherapy that remains committed to advancing its mission of creating transformative solutions for patients worldwide.

Notes To Editors

Contact Information
Epitopea

Dr. Alan C. Rigby – CEO
Alan.Rigby@epitopea.com

Scius Communications

Katja Stout

+44 7789 435990

katja@sciuscommunications.com

Daniel Gooch

+44 7747 875479

Daniel@sciuscommunications.com

About Epitopea
Epitopea is a transatlantic cancer immunotherapeutics company developing accessible off-the-shelf RNA-based immunotherapies for use in hard-to-treat cancers by targeting a new class of untapped tumor-specific antigens, which are known as Cryptigen™ TSAs, that are broadly shared across multiple patients with the same tumor type.

The company has created an extensive library of novel Cryptigen™ TSAs, discovered by its proprietary CryptoMap™ platform that leverages immunopeptidomics, genomics, and a bioinformatics pipeline, allowing the identification of aberrantly-expressed, tumor-specific antigens (aeTSA’s) that are hidden within cancer’s ’junk’ DNA. These hidden Cryptigen™ TSAs were first discovered through research led by Drs. Claude Perreault and Pierre Thibault at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer at the Université de Montréal.

Epitopea is backed by leading life science investors including Advent Life Sciences, CTI Life Sciences, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Le Fonds de Solidarité FTQ, Investissement Québec, adMare BioInnovations, Jonathan Milner, the Harrington Discovery Institute, IRICoR and Novateur Ventures. To date the company has raised financing of more than USD $45 million. Epitopea was founded in 2021 and consists of sister companies based in Cambridge, UK and in Montreal, Canada. For additional information, please visit www.epitopea.com and follow us on LinkedIn.