On July 15, 2019 Selecta Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: SELB), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on unlocking the full potential of biologic therapies based on its immune tolerance platform technology, ImmTOR, reported the appointment of Alison Schecter, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer effective Monday, July 15, 2019 (Press release, Selecta Biosciences, JUL 15, 2019, View Source [SID1234537531]).

Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:

Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

                  Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!

"Alison is an extremely accomplished senior leader with over 20 years of combined drug development, strategic management and practical clinical experience in academia and industry, successfully leading multiple clinical programs to approval," said Carsten Brunn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Selecta Biosciences. "As we remain focused on developing our immune tolerance platform, ImmTOR, for rare and serious diseases that require new treatment options, Alison’s knowledge and experience in this area will be invaluable as we continue to advance our lead program, SEL-212 for the treatment of chronic refractory gout, and as we further pursue the potential of our technology’s ability to enhance the field of gene therapy."

Dr. Schecter joins Selecta from Sanofi, where she was the Global Project Head, Rare Diseases, and was responsible for leading the Niemann-Pick Disease (ASMD) project, where her team was awarded the 2018 Cambridge Chamber of Commerce Visionary Award as well as gaining Breakthrough, Prime and Sakegake designations. She acted as the primary BD liaison between research and clinical development for internal and external programs in Rare Disease and adjacent therapeutic areas. Previously, Dr. Schecter was Global Program Head at Baxalta where she was instrumental in obtaining U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and PMDA approval for Adynovate, and for advancing the hemophilia portfolio culminating in Baxalta’s acquisition by Shire. Previously, Dr. Schecter was VP of Cardiovascular and Metabolism (CVM) External Innovation at the Northeast J&J Innovation Center in Cambridge, where she was responsible for identifying novel product opportunities and technologies. Earlier, she led translational medicine in cardiovascular and metabolism and rare disease indications at the Novartis Institutes of Biomedical Research (NIBR), leading a PoC trial for the IL-b antibody program, thus validating the NLRP3 signaling pathway for secondary prevention in cardiovascular disease. Dr. Schecter started her career in academia where she was Associate Professor in Immunology and Medicine and co-founder of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She was the recipient of numerous NIH grants. Her work at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai led to the identification of functional chemokine receptors on cardiac myocytes and vascular smooth muscle. Her innovative academic translational research led to a successful career in biotechnology. Dr. Schecter is a board-certified cardiologist and she completed her Internal Medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital, a Cardiology fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Research Fellowship at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She earned her medical degree from SUNY Downstate Health Science University.

"Selecta is guided by its bold vision to mitigate the immunogenicity of biological drugs making treatments such as gene therapy more effective in ways previously not possible. I am honored to join Selecta and work alongside this accomplished management team as we work to unlock the full potential of biologic therapies with ImmTOR," said Dr. Schecter. "I am very encouraged by the clinical data I have seen for the lead program SEL-212 for chronic refractory gout, and I look forward to continuing to develop Selecta’s novel platform in gene therapy, an area that I am particularly excited about as the potential to re-dose AAV gene therapies presents a tremendous opportunity to change patients’ lives."