Vicinitas Therapeutics Appoints Adam Hughes as Chief Scientific Officer

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Vicinitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary targeted protein stabilization platform to develop novel therapeutics for cancer and genetic disorders, today announced the appointment of Adam Hughes, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Hughes previously served as VP of Medicinal Chemistry at Vicinitas.

“We continue to make notable progress advancing our proprietary Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimera, or DUBTAC, platform, which is designed to restore aberrantly degraded proteins and deliver new therapeutic options to patients with cancer and genetic disorders,” said Christian Hofmann, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vicinitas Therapeutics. “Adam has been an integral part of building the platform since the founding of the company, and I’m thrilled to now have him at the helm of our scientific organization as Chief Scientific Officer. His extensive experience discovering heterobifunctional molecules and advancing platform-derived clinical candidates, coupled with his demonstrated leadership skills, will be critical as we continue to build a discovery pipeline of differentiated therapeutics.”

Dr. Hughes commented, “The onset and progression of many diseases, including cancer and monogenic diseases, are often caused by specific proteins that are abnormally degraded, thus preventing normal protein function. To date, many of these aberrantly degraded proteins have been intractable to drug discovery efforts. By leveraging our DUBTAC platform, we have a unique opportunity to develop small molecule drugs that can stabilize these proteins to prevent degradation and restore normal protein function. I’m very excited to continue contributing to Vicinitas’ mission, now as CSO, as we work to drug the undruggable and hopefully bring significant therapeutic benefits to patients.”

With over 23 years of experience in small molecule drug discovery, Dr. Hughes has been directly responsible for leading multiple preclinical research programs from inception to clinical candidate nomination, as well as supporting IND-enabling studies and filings. Prior to joining Vicinitas, Dr. Hughes served as Head of Chemistry at Terray Therapeutics and Executive Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Theravance Biopharma. At Terray, Dr. Hughes led the Chemistry team, prioritizing and enabling new reactions for the company’s bead-based DNA-encoded-library platform, optimizing library hit syntheses and building Medicinal Chemistry capabilities. In addition, he was part of the management team, implementing drug discovery initiatives and guiding the platform’s application towards lead optimization. At Theravance Biopharma, Dr. Hughes directed new discoveries and nominations of 11 clinical candidates across a wide range of biological targets and therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs. He was also responsible for leading an Exploratory Science R&D effort to identify and nominate new projects for Theravance’s portfolio.

Dr. Hughes holds his BSc in Chemistry (Henry Forth Prize) from the University of Nottingham and continued there to complete his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Professor Nigel Simpkins. He completed his academic training after winning one of four Glaxo Wellcome Fellowships, conducting Post-Doctoral Research under the guidance of Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University. He is an author on over 50 publications and patents.

About Vicinitas Therapeutics

Vicinitas Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on targeted protein stabilizers known as Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimeras (DUBTACs). The company’s mission is to use this proprietary technology to solve critical problems in human health by developing next-generation disease therapies against an entire class of previously inaccessible disease-causing proteins. Spun out of technology that was developed through an academic-industry collaboration between Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Vicinitas Therapeutics is based in South San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.vicinitas.com.

Contact:

Liz Melone
Melone Communications, LLC
liz@melonecomm.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/83601553-745c-4192-94a9-06928a67738d