Immunicom Announces Addition of Key Industry Leaders to Board of Directors
Dr. Peter Farrell, founder of ResMed [NYSE: RMD], has been Chairman since its inception in 1989; his S&P500 company established CPAP as worldwide standard of care in sleep disorders and other respiratory diseases, and he adds over 50 years of innovative leadership in medical industry to this new role
Michael Lehman, longtime CFO of Sun Microsystems [NSDQ: SUNW-JAVA] who helped take Palo Alto Networks [NSDQ: PALW] and Arista Networks [NSDQ: ANET] public, brings over 45 years of financial, operational, legal, managerial, and pre-IPO expertise to board membership
SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#immunotherapy—Immunicom, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a first-of-its-kind technology platform for immuno-oncology, announced that Dr. Peter Farrell and Michael E. Lehman have joined the Company’s Board of Directors. Mr. Lehman, a seasoned corporate leader, brings financial and operational expertise with a focus on IPO readiness, while Dr. Farrell, founder and Chairman of ResMed, has a proven track record of recognizing and establishing new standards of care for medical innovations.
The addition of the two members provides strong support to the Company’s plans to commercialize its Immunopheresis® platform in Europe. Following FDA Breakthrough designation in 2018, Immunicom received regulatory clearance in Europe (CE Mark) in 2021 for adults with advanced, refractory triple negative breast cancer and announced a partnership with Terumo BCT, a worldwide leader in the delivery of therapeutic apheresis. Immunicom closed 2021 by sharing preliminary clinical-trial data at SITC (Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer), revealing Immunopheresis to be “safe, effective” and “well-tolerated” in late- and end-stage cancer patients.
Dr. Farrell founded S&P 500 company ResMed in 1989. Under his visionary guidance as CEO and Chairman, his company established the CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) medical device as a critical and essential standard of care in the management of cardiovascular health. He remains Chairman and a non-officer employee. He sits on the boards of numerous public and private companies, serves as the MIT Dean of Engineering’s Advisory Council, and on the faculty advisory boards of UC San Diego’s Rady Business School and Jacobs School of Engineering. He holds a BE in chemical engineering with honors from the University of Sydney, an SM in chemical engineering from MIT, a PhD in chemical engineering and bioengineering from the University of Washington-Seattle, and a DSc from the University of New South Wales for research contributions in the field of treatment with the artificial kidney.
Mr. Lehman has extensive experience as CFO and COO for high-growth companies, with direct corporate management of key operating functions, including finance, legal, HR, IT, manufacturing operations and supply chain, facilities/real estate, and corporate strategy/development and planning. He was CFO of Sun Microsystems for 13 years over two stints with the company, and CFO and interim CEO of Palo Alto Networks, successfully realizing its operating plan to achieve IPO readiness while growing revenues eight-fold during his tenure. The last five years he has served his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as special advisor to the Chancellor. He is currently lead independent director and chair of the Management Development, Nominating and Governance Committee for a NYSE listed company, and Audit Committee chair for a NASDAQ listed company.
Both new members voiced their support for the Company’s technology and goals. “Immunicom has developed a truly novel approach to immuno-oncology called Immunopheresis. It pivots the site of treatment outside the body and is designed to be markedly better tolerated than existing drug immunotherapies,” said Dr. Farrell. “Immunopheresis is an extremely creative and promising approach to cancer treatment.” Mr. Lehman added, “I have been an investor in the Company since 2019 because of Immunicom’s innovative technology platform, and I am gratified by their near-term results and the potential their products and technologies offer cancer patients.”
Amir Jafri, founder and CEO of Immunicom, addressed the additions. “It is an honor to have Dr. Peter Farrell and Mr. Michael Lehman join Immunicom’s Board of Directors. Their participation is further validation of our planned path. With the addition of these esteemed members, along with our current Board and the remarkable team at Immunicom, the Company is preparing for significant product and financial market events over the next two years.”
Subtractive Therapy – Immunopheresis® and the LW-02 Cartridge
Immunopheresis uses proprietary molecules within the LW-02 Cartridge to remove specific cytokine receptors shed by cancer cells. Cytokine receptors act like a smoke screen, obscuring cancer’s presence to the immune system, but they also reveal a vulnerability: cancer defends itself because the immune system can kill it. Targeted removal of cytokine receptors by the LW-02 Cartridge is designed to disarm this cancer defense mechanism, unleashing the patient’s immune system to identify and aggressively attack cancer. In contrast to chemotherapies that add drugs to the body to fight cancer, Immunopheresis is a subtractive therapy: it adds no drugs by pivoting the site of treatment outside the body. Using apheresis – a process like dialysis – the treatment has been developed to avoid the typical side effects and toxicities of conventional treatments and improve quality of life for patients battling cancer and autoimmune diseases.
About Immunicom
Immunicom, Inc. is a privately held medical technology company with a new technology platform for immuno-oncology. Immunicom’s blood-filtering Immunopheresis technology is designed to effectively treat a wide variety of cancer types and other terminal diseases with a safer side-effect profile than conventional treatments. Immunicom’s lead product previously received FDA Breakthrough Device designation in 2018 for stage IV metastatic cancer, and European regulatory clearance (CE Mark certification) in 2021 for use in patients with advanced, refractory, triple negative breast cancer. Immunopheresis is currently being evaluated in several global oncology trials for multiple cancers. Immunicom is headquartered in San Diego, CA, with operations in Houston, TX, Philadelphia, PA, Krakow, Poland, and Istanbul, Turkey.
Contacts
Stephen Prince
publicrelations@immunicom.com
657-202-6040
