MANNHEIM, Germany, WATCHUNG, N.J. and SHANGHAI, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Full-Life Technologies today announced the appointments of Steffen Heeger, MD, PhD, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Fa Liu, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Dr. Heeger has held senior oncology clinical development positions at both large and emerging companies for more than 15 years. His work was instrumental to the development of Erbitux®, a monoclonal therapeutic antibody targeting EGFR, as well as the successful clinical development of other anti-cancer therapeutic antibodies, including targeted drug conjugates. Dr. Liu is a leading peptide chemist who served as Head of Chemistry at Novo Nordisk, and in 2020, as Co-founder and CEO of Focus-X, a peptide-focused radiopharmaceutical company recently acquired by Full-Life.
"Dr. Heeger brings to Full-Life great breadth of expertise and an outstanding track record in designing and executing clinical strategies for targeted oncology therapeutics, in both early and late-stage development," said Lanny Sun, Full-Life's Co-founder, Chairman and CEO. "He joins Full-Life as we are accelerating plans for our first targeted radiopharmaceuticals to enter clinical trials. Dr. Liu has had a highly successful, 18-year career in therapeutic discovery, including at Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. He led Focus-X to build a promising radiopharmaceutical pipeline within two years of inception. He will further strengthen our discovery capabilities, including our radionuclide-drug conjugate (RDC) platforms and therapeutic programs. We are excited to welcome these senior leaders to our team."
Dr. Heeger began his pharmaceutical career at Merck KGaA where he played a key role over nine years in the development of Erbitux®, a monoclonal antibody therapeutic targeting EGFR. Following Merck KGaA, he joined Morphosys and served for five years as Vice President and Head of Clinical Development. During that time, he led the clinical development of multiple therapeutic monoclonal antibodies for cancer against targets including PSMA, CD38 and CD19. The anti-CD19 work led to the approval of Monjuvi® (tafasitamab-cxix) for the treatment of Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma, the first registered drug clinically developed by Morphosys.
After Morphosys, Dr. Heeger served in Chief Medical Officer positions at Selvita, S.A. where he advanced the company's lead anti-cancer compound through IND and its initial clinical trial, and NBE Therapeutics, where he oversaw the IND submission and initial clinical trial for its antibody drug conjugate NBE-002 for the treatment of solid tumors and lymphoma. NBE was subsequently acquired by Boehringer Ingelheim for $1.5 billion. Most recently, he held the CMO position at Pega-One, a clinical stage oncology company that went IPO under the umbrella of Centessa Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Heeger holds MD and Master of Healthcare Management (MSc) degrees from the University of Heidelberg (Germany). He trained as a clinical oncologist at the University Hospital Heidelberg, Department of Haematology and Oncology and at German Cancer Research Center.
Dr. Liu, prior to founding Focus-X, served as the Head of Chemistry at Novo Nordisk Research Centers in the US, leading peptide and protein therapeutics discovery. Previously, Dr. Liu was the Head of Chemistry at Calibrium LLC, where he played instrumental roles in building the company's pipeline until its acquisition by Novo Nordisk. Dr. Liu started his industrial career at Eli Lilly, where he led multiple peptide lead optimization efforts and established the well-recognized modern insulin chemistries. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Liu worked at National Cancer Institute focusing on cancer drug discovery. Dr. Liu has discovered five compounds that progressed into human studies, including NNC0480-0389 (Phase II). He also contributed to the discovery of LY3209590 (Phase III) and the FDA approved drug Lyumjev® (insulin lispro-aabc). He received his Ph.D. from Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
About Full-Life Technologies
Full-Life Technologies Limited ("Full-Life") is a fully integrated global radiopharmaceutical company with operations in China, Europe, and the US. We seek to own the entire value chain for radiopharmaceutical research & development, production & commercialization in order to deliver clinical impact for patients. The company plans to attack core issues affecting radiopharmaceuticals today through innovative research that targets the treatments of tomorrow. We are comprised of a team of fast-moving entrepreneurs and scientists with a demonstrated track record in the life sciences, as well as radioisotope research and clinical development.
Website: www.full-life.com
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