Skip to main content

Engimmune Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Dr Annalisa D’Andrea to its Board of Directors

Written by: Editor
Published on: 23 May 2023

Engimmune TherapeuticsLeading industry expert with more than 25 years of experience in translation research in immunology

Basel, Switzerland, 23 May 2023. Engimmune Therapeutics AG (“Engimmune”), a Swiss biotech company developing novel T-cell receptor (TCR)-based therapeutics, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Annalisa D’Andrea to its board of directors as a non-executive director as of the 1 of June 2023.

Dr. D’Andrea has over 25 years of experience in the life-science industry including immunology research, drug discovery and development, and strategic leadership in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. She is a Venture Partner at Longwood Fund and is the former President and Chief Scientific Officer of ImmuneID. Prior to ImmuneID she was the Chief Scientific Officer of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals and was previously Vice President and Global Head of Discovery for Immunology and Inflammation at Roche, where she oversaw the discovery pipeline of drug candidates from inception to the clinic. Previous to Roche, Dr. D’Andrea held several executive positions at SRI International, including Executive Director and Section Head of Discovery Biology, where she was responsible for advancing assets through discovery and into development. Earlier in her career, she worked at Chiron Vaccines in Siena, Italy, an American multinational biotechnology firm that was later acquired by Novartis and most recently by GSK.

Dr. D’Andrea was educated in Italy and in the United States and has authored more than 46 publications and is the co-inventor of several patents. She received her Bachelor of Sciences, summa cum laude from the University of Siena in Italy, and her doctoral degree from the University of Florence while training at the Wistar Institute at the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her postdoctoral studies at the DNAX Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.

Bent Jakobsen, Ph.D., Chairman of Engimmune’s Board of Directors, said: "We are delighted to welcome Dr Annalisa D’Andrea to the board with her extensive proven experience of managing and growing novel healthcare start-up companies, developing important treatments to help patients. Her expertise and significant drug discovery experience will be invaluable as we continue to further develop our novel pipeline of soluble, multi-specific T cell receptor therapies.”

Dr Annalisa D’Andrea, Member of the Board of Directors at Engimmune Therapeutics commented: "I am delighted to be joining Engimmune Therapeutics at an exciting and important phase of development as the Company strives to develop new multi-specific TCR therapies for the treatment and benefit of patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases. I look forward to working with the team and using my vast experience to assist with advancing its proprietary platform technologies through discovery and development of highly potent and specific TCR-based therapeutic products.”

Engimmune Therapeutics is developing breakthrough TCR-based therapies, which are broadly divided into TCR-redirected T cell therapies (TCR-T) and soluble TCR biologics (sTCRs) and leverage TCR recognition of antigens to promote targeted cytotoxicity for the treatment of oncology and immune mediated diseases. Engimmune’s next-generation TCR technology platform is advancing into the next stage of growth and development as it prepares for future clinical development and commercialisation.