SAN CARLOS, Calif., Sept. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Apexigen, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a new generation of antibody therapeutics for oncology, today announced the appointment of Frank J. Hsu, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer, effective immediately. An accomplished industry veteran, Dr. Hsu will lead the ongoing clinical development of Apexigen’s lead investigational immuno-oncology drug, sotigalimab, an anti-CD40 antibody. He will also oversee clinical and regulatory strategy and execution for Apexigen’s expanding pipeline of immuno-oncology therapeutics.
“We are thrilled to welcome Frank to Apexigen,” said Xiaodong Yang, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Apexigen. “He brings comprehensive drug development and regulatory expertise, proven leadership abilities and a fierce drive to improve patient outcomes. Frank has been on the forefront of innovation in immuno-oncology and has successfully brought multiple drugs to patients. We are confident that Frank will help drive the full potential of sotigalimab, which we believe may offer an important breakthrough in this field, as well as our broader pipeline.”
Dr. Hsu added, “I am excited to join Apexigen, whose emerging data suggest sotigalimab -- a potentially first-in-class and best-in-class CD40 agonist -- may provide superior clinical benefit in several critically important cancer indications. I look forward to working with Apexigen’s outstanding team as we drive sotigalimab through its broad Phase 2 program and into registrational trials. Apexigen’s technology has created an innovative pipeline of next-generation, high quality antibody therapeutics and I am excited to be part of bringing these novel agents into the clinic.”
Dr. Hsu has extensive experience in cancer drug development in biotech and academia and has advanced multiple biologics from early preclinical development through first-in-human studies and late-stage clinical development. Most recently, he served as Chief Medical Officer at Oncternal Therapeutics and before that he served as Vice President and Head of Oncology at Immune Design Corporation, where he was responsible for development of several immuno-oncology programs, prior to its acquisition by Merck. Previously, Dr. Hsu served as Chief Medical Officer at Zyngenia, where he was responsible for development of its multivalent protein therapeutics, and as Senior Medical Director at Genzyme. Dr. Hsu was a faculty member at Yale University, serving as an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Section of Oncology and Co-Director/Director of the Immunology Research Program of the Yale Cancer Center. He began his academic career as a Clinical and Research Fellow in oncology at Stanford.
Dr. Hsu holds a B.S. degree in biology from Stanford University, and an M.D. degree from Harvard Medical School and the Health Science and Technology Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He completed his internship/residency in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco and his oncology training at Stanford University.
About Apexigen
Apexigen is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing a new generation of antibody therapeutics for oncology, with an emphasis on new immuno-oncology agents that may harness the patient’s immune system to combat and eradicate cancer. Sotigalimab and Apexigen’s other programs were discovered using Apexigen’s proprietary APXiMAB™ discovery platform. This platform has enabled Apexigen and its collaboration partners to discover and develop high-quality therapeutic antibodies against a variety of molecular targets, including targets that are difficult to drug with conventional antibody technologies. Seven product or product candidates discovered using APXiMAB are currently commercially available or in clinical development, either internally by Apexigen or by its licensees. For more information, please visit www.apexigen.com.
Investor Contact:
Bruce Mackle
LifeSci Advisors
+1-646-889-1200
bmackle@lifesciadvisors.com
Apexigen Contact:
Mark Nevins
Sr. Vice President, Business Development
Apexigen, Inc.
+1-650-931-6236
mnevins@apexigen.com
