OncXerna Therapeutics Appoints Colleen Mockbee as Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs

WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — OncXerna Therapeutics, Inc., a precision medicine company using an innovative RNA-based biomarker platform to potentially predict patient responses to its first-in-class targeted oncology therapies, today announced the appointment of Colleen Mockbee as Chief Development Officer and Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

“I am thrilled to reunite with Colleen and have her join our team given her deep expertise in oncology drug development,” said Laura Benjamin, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer at OncXerna Therapeutics. “Her track record of success in developing and executing clinical development and regulatory strategies is impressive. This track record will be critical as we prepare to advance our navicixizumab and bavituximab programs towards registration trials using our unique RNA-based biomarker approach, which has the potential to bring precision medicine to more cancer patients in need of better treatments.”

Prior to joining OncXerna, Ms. Mockbee served as Partner Therapeutics, Inc.’s Chief Development Officer and Head of Regulatory and Quality. Previously, Ms. Mockbee established her distinguished career at Eli Lilly and Company, where she spent 20 years in oncology drug development and held leadership roles in global regulatory and health outcomes. As the Verzenio™ (abemaciclib) global product development leader at Eli Lilly, she combined innovation with speed to create and execute a development strategy that led to Verzenio’s approval and launch for metastatic breast cancer and the first positive Phase 3 study (monarchE) for a CDK 4/6 inhibitor in early breast cancer. Ms. Mockbee received Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Pharmacy from Butler University and an MBA from Purdue’s Krannert School of Business in 2016.

“The opportunity to integrate OncXerna’s novel biomarker strategy with the development of promising new treatments is very exciting,” said Ms. Mockbee. “I am honored to join the excellent leadership team at OncXerna and support their mission to advance precision medicine for cancer patients.”

About OncXerna Therapeutics

OncXerna is aiming to deliver next-generation precision medicine for a larger group of cancer patients by leveraging the company’s deep understanding of how to prospectively identify patients based on the dominant, RNA-based biology of their tumor microenvironments. This allows OncXerna to pair those patients with OncXerna’s clinical-stage therapies and known mechanism of action that directly address these biologies, to dramatically improve patient outcomes. For more information on OncXerna, please visit oncxerna.com

About OncXerna’s RNA-based Biomarker Platform

Existing precision medicines target only approximately 10% of cancers—those with gene mutations or oncogenic drivers for a small number of genes. Using its proprietary biomarker platform, OncXerna is leveraging the company’s deep understanding of tumor biology at the RNA level to identify the dominant biology underlying a patient’s cancer. OncXerna’s first biomarker panel is specific to the tumor microenvironment (TME Panel-1). Initial results from TME Panel-1 reveal 4 different dominant biologies, demonstrating the presence of specific patient subgroups and their predictive value in responding to treatment. OncXerna is further optimizing the biomarker platform’s tumor microenvironment panel through multiple research collaborations, including a collaboration with Moffitt Cancer Center.

About Navicixizumab

Navicixizumab is an investigational anti-DLL4/VEGF bispecific antibody that has demonstrated antitumor activity in patients who have progressed on Avastin® (bevacizumab) in a Phase 1a/b clinical trial. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track designation to navicixizumab for the treatment of high-grade ovarian, primary peritoneal, or fallopian tube cancer in patients who have received at least three prior therapies and/or prior treatment with Avastin. OncXerna is targeting patients whose dominant tumor biology is driven by angiogenesis with a focus beyond VEGF to include broader anti-angiogenic pathways. Navicixizumab is an investigational agent that has not been licensed or approved anywhere globally, and it has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use, including for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer.

About Bavituximab

Bavituximab is an investigational antibody that reverses immune suppression by inhibiting phosphatidylserine (PS) signaling and is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials to treat a specific subset of patients with advanced gastric cancer to improve their response to anti-PD-1 treatment. The mechanism of action of bavituximab is to block tumor immune suppression signaling from PS to multiple immune cell receptor families (e.g., TIMs and TAMs). The dominant biology targeted by bavituximab may be relevant for patients with many types of solid tumors whose immune systems are too suppressed to benefit from currently available immune oncology therapies. OncXerna’s clinical trials currently combine bavituximab with KEYTRUDA® to test the hypothesis that relieving immunosuppression can enhance responses to checkpoint inhibitors. Bavituximab is an investigational agent that has not been licensed or approved anywhere globally, and it has not been demonstrated to be safe or effective for any use, including for the treatment of advanced gastric cancer.

KEYTRUDA® is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA.

Investor and Media Contact:

Ashley R. Robinson
LifeSci Partners, LLC
arr@lifesciadvisors.com