Innate Pharma announces new Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

Innate Pharma has named Dr Joyson Karakunnel as its new Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO), with current CMO Dr Pierre Dodion retiring from the role.

Boasting extensive experience in immuno-oncology and drug development Dr Karakunnel joins Innate from Tizona Therapeutics, where he was the company’s CMO and Senior Vice President. At that time, he oversaw development of the company’s biotherapeutics pipeline.

Previously, he served at Arcus Biosciences and AstraZeneca/MedImmune in range of positions involving drug development, drug safety and regulatory affairs, and at the National Cancer Institute as a clinical trial investigator.

Dr Karakunnel is also a medical advisor at the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

In his new role, he will be responsible for advancing Innate’s clinical pipeline, heading up a global team with clinical strategy, patient safety, regulatory and medical affairs on his remit.

For Dr Dodion, this marks the end of a tenure with company that began back in 2014. Following his retirement, he will transition to a consulting role at the company.

“We are pleased to welcome Dr Joyson Karakunnel as our new CMO. As an experienced medical oncologist, Joyson brings in-depth immunology, oncology and hematology expertise, which will help further strengthen and accelerate the delivery of new medicines to patients,” said Mondher Mahjoubi, Chief Executive Officer of Innate Pharma. “We are also grateful for Pierre’s invaluable contributions. During his six years at Innate, he drove the advancement of several key assets to late-stage clinical development, which will have a lasting impact on the company.”