Indapta Therapeutics Appoints Dov Goldstein, M.D., Chief Financial and Business Officer

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Indapta Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary, off-the-shelf, allogeneic FcRγ-deficient natural killer (G-NK) cell therapy to treat multiple cancers, today announced the appointment of Dov Goldstein, M.D., as its first chief financial and business officer. He will join Ronald Martell, co-founder and executive chairman, and Guy DiPierro, founder and chief executive officer, to form Indapta’s executive management team. Dr. Goldstein will be responsible for shaping the company’s growth strategies as well as operational finance and business development.

“We are pleased to welcome Dov to Indapta at such an important time as we transition to a clinical-stage company,” said Mr. DiPierro. “With his more than 20 years of strategic financial experience within the healthcare sector and hands-on experience from his prior venture capital and operational roles in the biopharma industry, he will be an invaluable addition to our team. With the addition of Dov and critical manufacturing, quality and regulatory affairs experts, we are poised to maximize manufacturing capabilities and support the advancement of our two lead programs into clinical trials.”

“Indapta has built a world-class G-NK product portfolio that has generated significant positive preclinical data to date, and has broad potential across multiple cancer indications,” said Dr. Goldstein. “I look forward to helping prepare the company for clinical development and building capacity for continued innovation in the coming years as we seek to improve the lives of people with cancer.”

Dr. Goldstein joined Indapta Therapeutics from RIGImmune where he served as chief executive officer. He was previously at Aisling Capital, where he served as a managing partner and was responsible for investments in both private and public companies. Before Aisling, he was chief financial officer at Vicuron Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Pfizer for $1.9 billion. At Vicuron, Dr. Goldstein raised over $250 million in equity financings, had a major role in the company’s partnership transactions, and helped lead the M&A process. Previous roles include chief financial officer at Loxo Oncology, which was later acquired by Lilly for $8 billion, and director of Venture Analysis at Healthcare Ventures, where he led due diligence for new investments and business development for portfolio companies. He currently serves on the board of directors of NeuBase Therapeutics and has previously served as a member of the boards of directors for ADMA Biologics, Cempra Pharmaceuticals, Durata Therapeutics, Esperion Therapeutics and Loxo Oncology. Dr. Goldstein earned an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, an M.D. from Yale University School of Medicine, and a B.S. in biological sciences from Stanford University.

In addition to appointing a chief financial and business officer, Indapta has hired several senior people to fill key roles to operationalize the company’s manufacturing of its investigational therapeutics in partnership with Lonza. These individuals come to Indapta from notable biotechnology companies including Juno Therapeutics, bluebird bio, Fate Therapeutics and Sangamo Therapeutics. New hires will support regulatory affairs, manage Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) activities, establish quality control systems, and supervise Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) vendors. Indapta plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its G-NK therapy mid-year 2021 and initiate a first-in-human clinical trial in summer 2021, followed by a clinical trial in a different indication in the fourth quarter of 2021.

About Indapta’s G-NK Cell Therapy

Indapta Therapeutics is developing a universal, allogeneic G-NK cell therapy designed to substantially improve the cytotoxicity of monoclonal antibody therapy in multiple cancers.G-NK cells are a specific and potent subset of NK (natural killer) cells with specialized anti-tumor activity resulting from an epigenetic change, rather than engineering. Indapta has further enhanced G-NK cells via specific G-NK cell subset selection and its proprietary manufacturing process which, when combined, produce a G-NK cell therapy that demonstrates higher efficacy, persistence and enhanced cryopreservation.

When a monoclonal antibody binds to the tumor target and to Indapta’s G-NK cell therapy product, it initiates the release of dramatically more cancer killing compounds than conventional NK cells, allowing for increased efficacy and potentially less frequent dosing. Indapta’s off-the-shelf G-NK cell therapy is further differentiated from other NK cell therapies in that it is a cell banked product with low variability. In vivo studies have demonstrated the safety of Indapta’s G-NK cell therapy.

About Indapta Therapeutics

Indapta Therapeutics, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on developing and commercializing a proprietary, first-in-class, off-the-shelf allogeneic cell therapy to treat multiple types of difficult-to-treat hematologic cancers and solid tumors. Headquartered in San Francisco, Indapta was founded in 2017 by Guy DiPierro along with Ronald Martell and scientists at the University of California, Davis, and Stanford University. The company has developed allogeneic FcεRIγ-deficient natural killer cells, known as G-NK cells, and is working to bring this off-the-shelf cell therapy to patients to address the limitations of currently available autologous T-cell therapies.

Contacts

Nicole Raisch Goelz

408-568-4292

ngoelz@w2ogroup.com