PRESS RELEASE
Abbas Hussain Joins the Board of Immunocore as Non-Executive Director
Ian T. Clark also appointed as special adviser to the Board
(Oxford, UK and Conshohocken, US, 12 May 2017) Immunocore Limited, the world’s leading TCR company developing biological drugs to treat cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases, announced today that Abbas Hussain has joined the Board of Directors as a Non-Executive Director. Ian T. Clark has also joined as a special adviser to the Board of Immunocore.
Abbas Hussain was most recently President of Global Pharmaceuticals at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), where he had overall responsibility for the Company’s sales business, and led operations supporting commercial infrastructure including medical, finance, human resources, IT, legal and communications. Abbas chaired GSK’s pharmaceutical operations committee, driving key decisions on commercial strategy, and was on the Board of ViiV Healthcare Ltd., GSK’s HIV-specialised business unit.
Abbas previously served as GSK’s President of Emerging Markets, where he was responsible for building the world’s leading emerging markets pharmaceuticals business by volume, and for driving the implementation of a new commercial operating model across more than 100 countries, helping to improve the transparency of GSK’s work with healthcare professionals. Prior to joining GSK, Abbas served in a number of roles at Eli Lilly & Company, eventually as head of European operations.
Ian T. Clark, former Chief Executive Officer, Head of North American Commercial Operations and member of the Board of Directors for Genentech, Inc., part of Roche Holding AG, is supporting the Board of Immunocore as a special adviser. Ian Clark joined Genentech in 2003 and has served in a number of senior roles, including as Head of Global Product Strategy and Chief Marketing Officer for Roche. Ian currently serves on the Board of Kite Pharma Inc.
These new appointments bolster an already experienced Board of Directors and support Immunocore as it builds out its ambitious global business strategy. Immunocore is building out the world’s leading TCR company by advancing its internal pipeline of proprietary products in areas of significant unmet medical need. The Company is focused on expanding its international clinical, regulatory and commercial infrastructure.
Commenting on the appointments, Dr Jonathan Knowles, Chairman of Immunocore, said: “Abbas Hussain brings decades of commercial, operational and strategic experience and know-how from his time at two of the world’s largest and most important pharmaceutical groups. He joins the Board of Immunocore as we advance our world-leading TCR ImmTAC® technology towards key data inflection points, further develop our footprint in oncology, auto-immune and infectious disease products, and build out our global commercial infrastructure. We’re also delighted that Ian Clark has joined us as a special adviser to the Board as we focus on building out the world’s leading independent TCR company.”
Abbas Hussain commented: “I have followed Immunocore’s progress with great interest and I am very excited to have joined the Board of a company with such a compelling TCR technology, excellent and ambitious leadership team and dynamic culture. I look forward to working with the Board to help move Immunocore into the next phase of its growth.”
Ian Clark added: “I am proud to become a senior adviser to the Board of Immunocore, a company that has the potential to change the practice of medicine through its unique ImmTAC platform technology.”
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For more information, please contact:
Immunocore
Eliot Forster, Chief Executive Officer/ Eva-Lotta Allan, Chief Business Officer
T: +44 (0)1235 438600
E: info@immunocore.com
Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott/Jessica Hodgson/Chris Welsh/Laura Thornton
T: +44 (0)203 709 5700
E: Immunocore@consilium-comms.com
Notes for editors
About Immunocore
Immunocore is the world’s leading T cell receptor (TCR) company, a global biotech striving to change medical practice in the most challenging disease areas. Immunocore is focused on delivering first-in-class biological therapies for patients, deploying its pioneering product platform, the soluble TCR ImmTAC® technology. This is a novel class of biologic drugs with the potential to treat multiple major indications including cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune diseases. Unlike most biological treatment modalities, ImmTAC® molecules can address both extra and intracellular disease targets. Immunocore is advancing towards its goal of becoming a fully-integrated company.
Across the oncology pipeline, Immunocore has collaborations with Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune (the biologics division of AstraZeneca) and a co-discovery and co-development partnership with Lilly across a range of solid tumours. Immunocore’s wholly-owned lead programme, IMCgp100, is in a pivotal monotherapy trial in patients with metastatic uveal melanoma. This study builds on the first ever demonstration of compelling single agent efficacy in a solid, ‘cold’, low mutation tumour – which is challenging for the majority of currently available immuno-oncology agents to address. The Company has also entered into combination trials with IMCgp100 in metastatic cutaneous melanoma, with MedImmune and Lilly.
Immunocore, headquartered near Oxford, UK with offices near Philadelphia, US, employs more than 340 staff, raised $320 million in a Series A round in 2015, and has a broad international investor base including Woodford Investment Management, Malin Corporation, Eli Lilly and Company, RTW Investments, Baker Brothers, Fidelity Management & Research Company as well as other private shareholders. For more information, please visit www.immunocore.com
