Elephas Biosciences Corporation, a private company that has developed an innovative live tissue platform for immunotherapy response prediction, has appointed Indian American physician-scientist and biotechnology executive Premal Patel as Chief Medical Officer.
In addition, the company has also appointed Dr. Michael Giordano, an expert in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and oncology, to the company’s Scientific Advisory Board as part of a move to strengthen its scientific and clinical leadership.
These significant additions follow Elephas’ recent peer-reviewed publication in the Journal of Translational Medicine, the close of a $42 million financing round, and continued commercial growth with globally recognized partners, establishing a strong foundation for advancing the company’s strategic priorities ahead, according to a company release.
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Dr. Patel with over two decades of leadership experience spanning Genentech, Pfizer, Juno, Lyell, and eFFECTOR Therapeutics was most recently the Chief Executive Officer of Cellinfinity Bio, focused on a next-generation in vivo CAR-T therapy. As Chief Medical Officer at eFFECTOR, he redefined clinical strategy and helped guide a successful IPO.
Dr. Patel holds a BS in Pharmacy from Rutgers University, an MD and PhD from the University of Washington and completed his oncology fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Patel will add critical clinical insight as the company advances towards commercial launch of its live tumor immunology platform, according to the release.
“It’s an exciting and pivotal moment for Elephas,” said Dr. Patel. “By using a patient’s own live tumor to generate clinically actionable insights, Elephas could transform how treatment decisions are made. This approach directly addresses a major unmet need in metastatic cancer, helping to identify the most effective therapy for each patient.”
“Our strength lies in our people and their commitment to developing and delivering a transformative functional solution for cancer researchers and patients,” said Maneesh Arora, Elephas Founder and CEO. “I am incredibly excited about both Drs. Patel and Giordano and the passion for the mission and depth of knowledge that they will bring to our team.”
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Since its founding, Madison, Wisconsin-based Elephas has been dedicated to improving the lives of cancer patients by analyzing real-time insight into how a patient’s tumor responds to therapy, before the patient ever receives it, according to the release. Elephas’ commitment to this mission and its proven track record continues to attract industry-leading innovators across oncology and biotechnology.
Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, with the number of patients projected to triple by 2060. Despite a significant increase in the number of available immunotherapies, only 1 in 5 patients receiving immunotherapy obtain a response and many who may respond are not eligible for therapy due to lack of accurate predictive biomarkers.
With the mission to tackle this massive dilemma, Elephas has developed an ex-vivo platform to assess how live biopsies respond to immunotherapies. By preserving the native tumor microenvironment from a live core needle biopsy and using a novel method to address tumor heterogeneity, the Elephas Live platform enables a real-time characterization of immune response, it says.