London, Oct. 15, 2024 – Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, today announced the appointment of seasoned scientific leader Michelle Morrow, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer with effect from November 4, 2024. Dr. Morrow brings nearly 20 years’ experience in oncology therapeutics and antibody research at both biotech and pharmaceutical companies. She will fill a key role in the management team at Avacta as the Company evolves into a therapeutics-focused biotech. She most recently served at invoX Pharma as Senior Vice President (SVP), Head of invoX Therapeutics Innovation, leading a discovery and preclinical research team that was established following the Company’s acquisition of F-star Therapeutics, where she held the position of SVP, Head of Research.
Christina Coughlin, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta, commented: “We are thrilled to welcome Michelle to the team, she brings decades of experience in translating early science into innovative and effective medicines for patients. Michelle’s scientific leadership is exemplified by an outstanding track record in advancing novel oncology candidates from target validation through preclinical research to Phase 2 clinical proof-of-concept. Michelle will be a significant asset to the Avacta team in driving our programs forward and we look forward to benefiting from her wealth of expertise.”
Michelle Morrow, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer designate of Avacta, commented: “I am delighted to join Avacta at such an exciting time in its development. The progress made in the AVA6000 clinical trial, and the potential of the pre|CISION™ platform are very exciting. I look forward to leveraging my experience in oncology drug development to help further drive the Company’s pipeline and explore the full potential of our therapies to benefit patients’ lives.”
During her time at F-star, Dr. Morrow made significant contributions to progressing bispecific candidates from discovery and into clinical trials and led F-star’s biology and translational research functions. Prior to that, she established an immuno-oncology preclinical modelling group supporting projects across the Medimmune and AstraZeneca portfolio and held Discovery Project Leader roles for Imfinzi®, an approved anti-PD-L1 antibody, and volrustomig, an anti- PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody.
Dr. Morrow earned her PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge, UK and conducted post-doctoral research into childhood leukaemia at the Institute of Child Health, London.