Hot on the heels of yesterday’s blockbuster AVA6000 Phase 1a data, Avacta (AVCT) this morning announced it was seeking to appoint a new full-time Chief Medical Officer (CMO) with responsibility for driving the group’s clinical strategy.

Clearly this CMO role is hugely important, especially given Tuesday’s news validated the tumour targeting capability of the pre|CISION platform, in turn opening up the potential for multiple commercial opportunities as well as creating a pipeline of possible new tumour-targeted cancer therapies.

In the interim, Avacta has appointed non-exec Dr. Christina Coughlin as a consultant - at $15,000 a month - on a temporary basis in order to cover this vital CMO role during the recruitment process.

Dr. Coughlin is a highly experienced clinical oncologist with a broad background in biotechnology and global pharmaceuticals with comprehensive experience in drug development from pre-IND to filing. Dr Coughlin also has a proven track record of building drug development teams in global firms after being CEO of Cytolmmune Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialisation of novel cancer immunotherapy products designed to use the patient’s own immune system to eliminate cancer cells.

Previously she was also CMO at Rubius Therapeutics and Tmunity Therapeutics Incorporated. Elsewhere, Chief Development Officer Neil Bell will be leaving the business shortly. 

CEO Alastair Smith, commented: “The Board and I would like to thank Neil for his hard work over the past few years in taking our first programme into the clinic. We are now moving from a phase of building our clinical development capabilities to leveraging that capacity across multiple programmes. It is therefore appropriate that we transition the Senior Leadership team to incorporate medical oncology experience. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to benefit in the near term from Christina’s immense experience during this exciting period as we seek to appoint a full-time Chief Medical Officer.”

Dr Christina Coughlin added: “The potential of the pre|CISION platform to deliver significant improvement to cancer patient outcomes is very exciting. Beyond soft tissue sarcoma, we have potential to exploit AVA6000 to treat other cancers such as breast & ovarian and a wealth of opportunities to build our pipeline and partnerships.”

Lastly watch out too for Avacta's interim results on Thursday 28th September.