Cantargia appoints Dr. Dominique Tersago as Chief Medical Officer

Cantargia (Cantargia AB; Nasdaq Stockholm: CANTA) today announced the strengthening of its management team through the appointment of Dr. Dominique Tersago as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) from 1 August 2022. Dr. Tersago brings broad experience at leading pharma and biotech companies and will advance Cantargia’s medical activities and provide strategic guidance as the company prepares for late-stage clinical development of its lead asset, the IL1RAP-binding antibody nadunolimab (CAN04), in pancreatic cancer (PDAC) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Tersago to the Cantargia team. Her expertise in early and late-stage clinical development, and value creation in the biotech environment, will be vital as Cantargia builds out from our recent positive results in pancreatic cancer and lung cancer. This appointment puts the company in a very good position to advance nadunolimab,” said Göran Forsberg, CEO of Cantargia.

Dr. Tersago has over 25 years of experience in clinical development and regulatory affairs, with a focus on immuno-oncology, virology, immunology and hematology. She joins Cantargia from antibody start-up ExeVir Bio and brings significant industry experience, having held senior positions at high-profile life science firms including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ablynx. At Ablynx, where she was CMO between 2013 and 2016 before it was acquired by Sanofi in 2018, Dr. Tersago had a key role in the phase III study design of caplacizumab for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, later approved by both the EMA and FDA. Dr. Tersago has a medical degree from University of Antwerp, Belgium.

“I am delighted to be joining Cantargia, particularly at a time when nadunolimab is progressing rapidly from clinical proof-of-concept to broader clinical utility. Generating a robust clinical package which addresses medical needs and regulatory requirements is an effective way of building value in a company,” said Dr. Dominique Tersago.

Dr. Roger Belusa, who had been acting as interim CMO, will remain at Cantargia and take up a role in the ongoing clinical trials. Another change to the management team is that VP CMC Peter Juul Madsen has decided to enter a new position outside Cantargia, and his role will be temporarily filled by Liselotte Larsson, COO. 

Cantargia presented promising efficacy data at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2022 for nadunolimab combined with chemotherapy in over 70 PDAC patients and 30 NSCLC patients evaluated in the phase IIa clinical trial CANFOUR. Cantargia will advance nadunolimab to late-stage clinical development through the phase II/III trial Precision Promise℠ in PDAC, in collaboration with PanCAN, and through a randomized trial in patients with non-squamous NSCLC, expected to start in 2023.

For further information, please contact
Göran Forsberg, CEO
Telephone: +46 (0)46-275 62 60
E-mail: goran.forsberg@cantargia.com

This information was submitted for publication at 14.00 CET on 8 July 2022.

About Cantargia
Cantargia AB (publ), reg. no. 556791-6019, is a biotechnology company that develops antibody-based treatments for life-threatening diseases and has established a platform based on the protein IL1RAP, involved in a number of cancer forms and inflammatory diseases. The lead project, the antibody nadunolimab (CAN04), is being studied clinically in combination with chemotherapy or immune therapy in a series of clinical studies – CANFOUR, CIRIFOUR, CAPAFOUR, CESTAFOUR and TRIFOUR – with a primary focus on non-small cell lung cancer and pancreatic cancer. Positive interim data from the combination with chemotherapy indicate stronger efficacy than would be expected from chemotherapy alone. Cantargia’s second project, the antibody CAN10, blocks signaling via IL1RAP in a different manner than nadunolimab and addresses treatment of serious autoimmune/inflammatory diseases, with initial focus on systemic sclerosis and myocarditis.

Cantargia is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (ticker: CANTA). More information about Cantargia is available at https://cantargia.com/en/.

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