Singapore's Tessa Therapeutics, an international clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on cellular immunotherapy treatments for cancer, is delighted to announce that Göran Ando, the former Chairman of Novo Nordisk A/S, has joined the Board as an Independent Director.
The company also announces that, due to additional demand in its latest funding round, it has raised a further USD 50m, bringing the total raised in this round to USD 130 million. Tessa will use the proceeds to continue the advancement of its clinical pipeline and to bring new therapies into clinical trials, broadening the range of cancers that can be treated with the company’s Virus Specific T cell (VST) platform.
Commenting on his new role, Dr. Göran Ando said “Immunotherapy, and specifically T cell therapy, is one of the most exciting areas in the healthcare sector today, and Tessa Therapeutics is a leader in their field. I am delighted to join the Board of this innovative company and look forward to working with my Board colleagues and the management to further develop the pipeline towards making novel therapies available to patients.”
Tessa Therapeutics CEO and Co-Founder, Andrew Khoo said “I am proud to welcome Dr. Ando to the Board of Tessa Therapeutics. The wealth of experience that Göran brings from his illustrious career leading some of the world’s top healthcare and pharmaceutical businesses will be of great benefit to us all. Combined with the additional funding we have raised by expanding our recent funding round, I feel that we are now at a key moment in our journey as an important player in the development of cellular immunotherapy, and we are delighted that Dr. Ando is joining us at this exciting stage.”
Dr. Ando brings over 35 years of international healthcare experience to Tessa Therapeutics. Starting his career at Pfizer, he held senior positions at leading global healthcare and pharmaceutical businesses.
Tessa’s Virus-Specific T cell (VST) technology is showing compelling results and an excellent safety profile in the treatment of cancer. The company is currently conducting a multi-center Phase III trial targeting nasopharyngeal cancer, and a Phase I trial targeting cervical cancer and oropharyngeal cancer, set to move into Phase II in 2019. In addition, Tessa is developing a broad pipeline of pre-clinical programs targeting major cancers such as liver and lung using its VST platform.
