SHANGHAI and MELBOURNE, Australia, July 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Antengene Corporation (Antengene) today announced the appointment of Dirk Hoenemann, M.D as VP, Head of Medical Affairs for Asia Pacific Region (APAC) and Early Clinical Development. He will report directly to Mr. Thomas Karalis, Head of Asia Pacific Region and Jay Mei, M.D., Ph.D., CEO of Antengene Corporation.
In this role, Dirk will be responsible for establishing the Antengene APAC Medical Affairs function, structure and processes, and the clinical development strategies for multiple early phase compounds/programs.
Dirk has over 20 years of experience in clinical research, translational medicine, academia, and the pharmaceutical industry. He has led multiple clinical programs, including first-in-human initiatives with novel antibody formats in hematological malignancies and solid tumors, and has made critical contributions to the first CAR-T study in Australia targeting LewisY. Dirk has also held numerous leadership positions in the pharmaceutical industry. In his most recent role at Celgene, he led the development of Early Clinical Development programs for the Asia Pacific Region and the successful launches of lenalidomide, pomalidomide, and azacitidine in some APAC markets.
"Following the sNDA of ATG-010 in DLBCL last month in the U.S., we are thrilled to have Dirk join the team today and bring his profound global translational research and clinical development experience to the team," said Jay Mei, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Antengene. "Dirk is a highly accomplished oncology researcher and an outstanding leader with impressive ability to lead teams of highly qualified individuals in high pressure environments. I believe he will play an essential role in boosting Antengene's growth in the Asia Pacific Region so as to achieve our mission of treating and making a positive difference in the lives of cancer patients in these markets."
Dr. Dirk Hoenemann said: "I feel honored to join Antengene, a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the research of advanced and novel medicines. Besides, it's my privilege to have the opportunity to lead the company's Medical Affairs & Early Clinical Development and bring forward the company's strong pipeline of medicines that meet the unmet medical needs in the Asia Pacific Region and worldwide. "
Dirk earned his Doctor of Medicine from Charite, University Hospital Berlin, and Internal Medicine from University of Würzburg.
About Antengene
Antengene is a biopharmaceutical company with integrated drug discovery, clinical development, manufacturing and commercialization anchored in Asia Pacific region with global layout, aiming to provide the most advanced and first-in-class anti-cancer drugs and other treatments for patients in China, the rest of Asia and around the world. In April 2017, Celgene (now officially acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb, and a world's top ten pharmaceutical company after the merger), a global leading innovative biopharmaceutical company became a founding partner and obtained an equity position as an investor in Antengene. Over the past 3 years, Antengene has obtained 7 IND approvals with 6 first-in-class drugs in more than 10 ongoing cross-regional clinical trials in Asia Pacific regions, and has built a product pipeline of 12 clinical and pre-clinical stage programs. The vision of Antengene, "Treating Patients Beyond Borders." is to meet the unmet medical needs of patients in Asia Pacific regions and around the world through research & development and commercialization of first-in-class drugs.
ATG-010 (selinexor) is the first oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) compound with novel mechanisms in the world. In July 2019, the U.S. FDA approved selinexor in combination with low-dose dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma. In June 2020, selinexor was approved by the U.S. FDA as a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Currently, the registration clinical trials of ATG-010 in relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) are ongoing in China. The compound is also in late clinical development for various other hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. In addition, preclinical studies have shown that inhibitors of nuclear protein export XPO1 can effectively treat KRAS mutant tumor, and related clinical studies are currently being conducted.
ATG-008 is a second-generation dual mTORC1/2 inhibitor presently being studied in multi-regional clinical trials for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, as well as lung cancer, gynecological cancers and several other tumors as a single agent or in combination with an anti-PD-1 antibody.
ATG-016 is a second-generation oral selective inhibitor of nuclear export protein, and is currently being studied in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) as well as in several clinical trials of solid tumors, including colorectal cancer (CRC), gastric carcinoma (GC), triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and prostate cancer (PrC).
ATG-019 is the first-in-class PAK4/NAMPT dual-target inhibitors, and is currently being studied in a number of clinical trials including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), colorectal cancer, lung cancer, and melanoma. In addition, preclinical studies have demonstrated that ATG-019 in combination with anti-PD-1 antibodies can effectively improve the anti-tumor activity and is effective in tumors that became resistant to anti-PD-1 therapy.
ATG-527 is an innovative product under development for antiviral and treatment of autoimmune diseases, and has been in clinical trial of healthy volunteers and been studied against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other related diseases.
ATG-017 is a potent and selective small molecule extracellular signal–regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) inhibitor, in clinical development for the treatment of various solid tumors, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) and multiple myeloma.
In addition, the drug discovery team of Antengene focuses on the discovery and early preclinical development of multiple innovative drugs with novel targets in the fields of small molecules, monoclonal and bi-specific antibodies. For more information, please visit www.antengene.com.
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