ImCheck Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Loui Madakamutil, PhD, as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Madakamutil brings over 20 years of experience in developing transformative therapies that harness the immune system, having served in senior research and development positions in global biopharmaceutical companies including Nektar Therapeutics, Janssen, Takeda and Celgene. He will be responsible for advancing ImCheck’s extensive portfolio of novel preclinical-stage antibodies designed to engage the butyrophilin (BTN) superfamily of immune modulators with the potential to treat cancer, infectious and autoimmune diseases.
“Loui’s expertise in immunology together with his understanding of cancer and autoimmune diseases will complement ImCheck’s focus on butyrophilins and γδ T cell engagement as we expand our product portfolio, in particular as we move our lead program ICT01 further through clinical evaluation,” stated Pierre d’Epenoux, Chief Executive Officer of ImCheck Therapeutics. “With Loui at the head of our discovery and preclinical development, his experience in advancing drug candidates successfully from target discovery into the clinic will accelerate our therapeutic pipeline with the goal of bringing a range of transformative therapies closer to patients. I would like to thank our previous CSO René Hoet for his contributions to the current success of our company.”
“ImCheck has already demonstrated the exciting anti-tumor activity of its first-in-class antibody ICT01, and its ability to activate γ9δ2T cells. ImCheck’s deep knowledge of the BTN space and the significant potential of its early-staged portfolio places the company in a disruptive phase and it is a tremendous opportunity to join the company,”added Loui Madakamutil, Chief Scientific Officer of ImCheck Therapeutics. “I look forward to working with Pierre and the ImCheck team to explore the potential of its pipeline to modulate adaptive and innate immune responses and to provide impactful new treatment options to patients suffering from devastating diseases like cancer.”
Before joining ImCheck, Dr. Madakamutil was the Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder at Invivoscribe Therapeutics where he pioneered the development of a small molecule precision oncology program for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Prior to this, he held the position as Senior Vice President and Head of Discovery and Preclinical Development at Nektar Therapeutics where he was responsible for the discovery strategy and for bringing novel immune-modulatory medicines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases toward clinical evaluation. He also served in several senior leadership positions in R&D and preclinical development at Janssen Inc., Takeda and Celgene. Through these positions, Dr. Madakamutil has built a significant network in the US and globally. He did his Post-Doctoral training at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology and graduated from the University of Mumbai, India, with a PhD in Immunology.