Leslie Chong appointed Imugene COO

Immuno-oncology company Imugene (ASX:IMU) has appointed Leslie Chong as its new chief operating officer as of mid-September — a move which saw the company’s share price rise by 25% on Thursday.

Chong was most recently a senior clinical program leader at Genentech, a San Francisco-based biotech company with a strong oncology franchise. Her appointment to Imugene will see her relocate to Sydney within the month.

“We are delighted that someone of Leslie’s calibre, deep immuno-oncology experience, industry networks — and from one of the world’s most successful and prestigious drug developers — has agreed to join our team,” said Imugene Executive Chairman Paul Hopper. “IMU is at an important stage of its clinical development and Leslie’s deep, hands-on clinical trial experience across many studies will be invaluable to us.”

Imugene’s lead product is HER-Vaxx, a proprietary HER-2 positive cancer immunotherapy that stimulates a polyclonal antibody response to HER-2/neu. HER-2/neu is a known and validated receptor over-expressed on various tumours including gastric, breast, ovarian, lung and pancreatic cancers.

“Immuno-oncology is revolutionising the treatment of cancer, and I believe Imugene’s technology shows great promise,” said Chong. “The compelling science against the validated HER-2 target, a world-class drug development team in Dr Axel Hoos and Professor Ursula Weidermann, and the opportunity to build out additional pipeline with Imugene’s mimotope technology provides a very sound foundation for future success.”

Imugene has also announced that its managing director, Charles Walker, will be stepping down into the role of non-executive director with the company. Walker was thanked by Hopper for his leadership and contribution to Imugene — in particular for laying the groundwork for the company’s upcoming Phase 1b/2 trial of HER-Vaxx in patients with gastric cancer.

Imugene (ASX:IMU) shares were trading 25% higher at $0.010 as of around 3.30 pm on Thursday.