On June 9, 2025 ModeX Therapeutics Inc., an OPKO Health company (NASDAQ: OPK), reported the creation of a Scientific Advisory Board to provide counsel and insight into the development of ModeX’s immunology and oncology-focused pipeline featuring potential first-in-class multispecific antibodies and vaccines developed with its proprietary MSTAR platform technology (Press release, Opko Health, JUN 9, 2025, View Source [SID1234653777]). Aligned with the company’s primary areas of focus, the board is comprised of established leaders across complex diseases involving the immune system including cancer, immune-mediated disease, and infectious diseases.
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The founding members include Drs. John Heymach, Ronald Levy, Myron Cohen, and Rafi Ahmed. Each of these globally recognized researchers brings notable contributions to biomedical research and the translation of therapeutics to impact public health.
"We are excited to welcome to our team four eminent scientists who share our vision of advancing next-generation immune therapies that simultaneously attack multiple targets and help patients overcome devastating diseases," said Gary Nabel, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of ModeX, and Chief Innovation Officer of OPKO.
Members of the ModeX Scientific Advisory Board include the following:
Rafi Ahmed, Ph.D. – Director of the Emory Vaccine Center and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, Emory University School of Medicine. Dr. Ahmed’s work in immunology has been highly influential in shaping our understanding of immunological memory to vaccines and T cell exhaustion during chronic viral infection. These findings have led to improved vaccination strategies and to the development of PD-1 directed immunotherapy for cancer. Dr. Ahmed is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Myron Cohen, M.D. – Professor of Medicine, Microbiology, and Immunology at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Director at the UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Health at UNC, and Associate Director of the UNC Center for AIDS Research. Dr. Cohen’s career has focused on the transmission of STDs, including HIV, and strategies for prevention. He was an architect of landmark studies that demonstrated that treatment of HIV prevents its transmission, a catalyst for current global HIV prevention efforts.
John Heymach, M.D., Ph.D. – Chair of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology and a professor at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He is a co-leader of the Center’s Lung Cancer Moon Shot and serves as a Principal Investigator of lung cancer programs funded by the National Cancer Institute, LUNGevity, and the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper). His research has led to novel therapeutic approaches for multiple types of lung cancer, and as a clinical investigator, he leads several biomarker-directed clinical trials using targeted and immunotherapy agents.
Ronald Levy, M.D. – Professor of Medicine and Co-Director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at Stanford University. He also serves as Associate Director of Translational Science for the Stanford Cancer Institute. His research has focused on monoclonal antibodies and the study of malignant lymphoma. Dr. Levy was a pioneer in successfully treating cancer with monoclonal antibodies and played a role in the development of rituximab for the treatment of lymphomas.
"Through my research I have witnessed how targeted antibody therapies have transformed the treatment of cancer and profoundly impacted patients’ lives globally," said Dr. Ronald Levy, a Professor of Medicine, and Co-Director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at Stanford University. "Multispecific treatments are writing the next chapter by overcoming the limitations of existing antibody treatments and expanding accessibility to many more patients. Alongside the experts joining me on this advisory board, I look forward to helping the ModeX team fulfill this mission."
"Drs. Heymach, Levy, Cohen, and Ahmed are globally recognized leaders in their respective field. We are grateful for their interest, counsel and support to achieve the full potential of our proprietary multispecific antibody technologies including to revolutionize the treatment landscape for millions of patients," said Phillip Frost, M.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Elias Zerhouni, M.D., Vice Chairman and President, of OPKO.
Beyond bispecifics: ModeX’s multispecific antibody platform
Multispecific therapeutics represent the future of medicine. Many untreatable or complex conditions arise from multiple disease pathways, yet most medicines only act on a single target. ModeX overcomes these challenges by combining natural protein structures to create unique multispecific medicines that can harness the immune system and address the complexity of disease.