LONDON and PHILADELPHIA, July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, today announces the appointment of David Liebowitz, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) and Yulii Bogatyrenko as an advisor in business development. Dr. Liebowitz will lead the Company’s clinical strategy and execution as it continues to advance its pipeline of targeted cancer therapies and Mr. Bogatyrenko will add additional strength to the Group’s business development strategy.

Dr. Liebowitz is a seasoned hematologist-oncologist and drug development leader with more than 30 years of experience across academia and industry and has contributed to the successful filing of more than 25 Investigational New Drug (IND) applications. He joins Avacta from Inovio Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: INO), where he served as Senior Vice President of early-stage clinical development, overseeing the clinical strategy for DNA-based vaccines and immunotherapies. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Xencor, Vaxart, and Amgen, with a consistent focus on oncology, immunotherapy, and translational science. At Vaxart, Dr. Liebowitz led the acquisition and execution of a significant BARDA contract as principal investigator, culminating in successful completion of the award. Earlier in his career, he held key R&D leadership roles at Amgen, where he directed oncology and vascular biology drug discovery at the company’s Washington research site.

Dr. Liebowitz began his academic career at the University of Chicago, where he served as Assistant Professor of Medicine and Virology and Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. He later became an associate investigator at the University of Pennsylvania’s Abramson Cancer Institute, where he led immunotherapy and cellular therapy programs focused on cancer and chronic viral diseases, and was a recipient of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant. Dr. Liebowitz holds MD and PhD. degrees from the University of Chicago and BS and MS degrees from Emory University.

Mr. Bogatyrenko is a Principal at Biopharma C&I, a biotechnology consulting firm that works with private and public companies in business development, corporate strategy, commercialization, launch readiness and R&D strategy. Previously, he held senior level positions in business development and commercial strategy, including leading multiple global commercial drug launches and numerous industry partnerships at Pfizer/Wyeth, Bayer Healthcare and Teva Specialty Pharmaceuticals.

Christina Coughlin, MD, PhD, CEO of Avacta, commented:

“We are thrilled to welcome David and Yulii at this pivotal time for Avacta. David’s deep expertise in oncology, coupled with a successful track record of advancing innovative therapies into the clinic, will be instrumental as we continue to execute on our clinical development strategy and progress our pre|CISION™ platform and pipeline of targeted cancer therapies. Yulii’s deep experience across commercial strategy, global drug launches, and industry partnerships at leading pharma organizations will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline and corporate growth strategy.”

“We look forward to benefiting from their insights and strategic perspective as we remain focused on driving value for both patients and shareholders.”

 For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

About Avacta - www.avacta.com
Avacta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage life sciences company expanding the reach of highly potent cancer therapies with the pre|CISION^® platform. pre|CISION^® is a proprietary warhead delivery system based on a tumor-specific protease (fibroblast activation protein or FAP) that is designed to concentrate highly potent warheads in the tumor microenvironment while sparing normal tissues. Our innovative pipeline consists of pre|CISION^® peptide drug conjugates (PDC) or Affimer^® drug conjugates (AffDC) that leverage the tumor-specific release mechanism, providing unique benefits over traditional antibody drug conjugates.