Vicinitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary targeted protein stabilization platform to develop novel therapeutics in cancer and genetic disorders, today announced that Christian Hofmann, Ph.D., has been appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors.
“Since the launch of Vicinitas less than a year ago, we have made important progress in advancing our proprietary Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimera (DUBTAC) platform, which is designed to offer therapeutic benefit to patients with cancer and genetic disorders through the restoration of aberrantly degraded proteins that cause disease,” said Daniel K. Nomura, Ph.D., founder of Vicinitas Therapeutics and Professor of Chemical Biology in the Departments of Chemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley. “We are thrilled to appoint a CEO with the pedigree and deep expertise of Christian Hofmann, and I look forward to closely collaborating with him to advance this important new approach for a number of underserved diseases.”
Dr. Hofmann brings to Vicinitas more than two decades of biopharma business and portfolio planning experience across all stages of development. Dr. Hofmann joins Vicinitas from Lycia Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on extracellular protein degradation, where he served as Chief Business Officer. There, he was responsible for company strategy, business development, portfolio and business operations. He also negotiated the company’s multitarget partnership with Eli Lilly and Company. Prior to Lycia, Dr. Hofmann was a member of the partnering group at Roche/Genentech, where he negotiated several licensing and collaboration agreements. Prior to Genentech, he held business development and portfolio management positions of increasing responsibility at several startups and Roche Diagnostics. Dr. Hofmann started his business career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in the pharmaceuticals and medical device practice, both in Europe and the U.S. Dr. Hofmann holds a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and applied physics from Yale University.
“I am excited to join Vicinitas at the ground floor to bring forward this innovative protein stabilization technology developed in Dr. Nomura’s lab at UC Berkeley,” said Dr. Hofmann. “I believe that Vicinitas represents an enormous opportunity to help patients by targeting proteins previously considered undruggable, and I look forward to working alongside the company’s world class team.”
About Vicinitas Therapeutics
Vicinitas Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on targeted protein stabilizers known as Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimeras (DUBTACs). The company’s mission is to use this proprietary technology to solve critical problems in human health by developing next-generation disease therapies against an entire class of previously inaccessible disease-causing proteins. Spun out of technology that was developed through an academic-industry collaboration between Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, Vicinitas Therapeutics is based in South San Francisco, California. For more information, visit www.vicinitastx.com.
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