NBE-Therapeutics AG, a biopharmaceutical company developing best-in-class, immune-stimulatory antibody drug conjugates (iADCs™), announces the appointment of Dr. Steffen Heeger as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Steffen will lead the clinical development of NBE-Therapeutics’ first lead iADC™ program NBE-002 targeting ROR1. NBE’s iADCs™ combine a uniquely effective anthracycline payload with site-specific enzymatic conjugation generating entirely homogeneous iADCs™ with stable linkers. Steffen will be responsible for the clinical development and all medical and regulatory aspects of NBE-002 with a focus on solid tumor indications of high unmet medical need, including triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and sarcomas, as well as for new programs from the NBE iADC™ platform.

Following successful completion of pivotal GLP-toxicology studies, NBE’s lead iADC™ product NBE-002 is now in late-stage CMC and regulatory process to enable IND filing H1/2020 and First-in-Human (FiH) clinical trials in H2/2020.

Steffen is an MD PhD with over 15 years industry experience in clinical development of targeted cancer therapies. He held senior medical positions at Merck-Serono, MorphoSys (all Germany) and, most recently, as CMO at Selvita, Poland. Throughout his career Steffen led clinical development programs predominantly in areas of hematological malignancies and in solid tumors.

Steffen is an internationally recognized leader with a strong track record in the clinical development of antibody-based, targeted oncology drugs. His work was instrumental for the development of the blockbuster drug Erbitux®, a monoclonal therapeutic antibody targeting EGFR, but also for successful clinical development of other anti-cancer therapeutic antibodies, e.g. targeting CD19, CD38 and PSMA.

Ulf Grawunder, CEO and Board member of NBE-Therapeutics comments: "We are excited that Steffen with his deep experience in clinical development of antibody-based oncology drugs has joined NBE-Therapeutics’ Management team as Chief Medical Officer. Steffen has taken a close look at our preclinical data in support of FiH clinical trials and has realized the outstanding potential of our lead iADC™, NBE-002 for cancer patients with difficult to treat tumors. His involvement in NBE will greatly expedite the initiation and execution of clinical trials for NBE and future iADC™ pipeline products."

Steffen Heeger adds: "I have followed NBE-Therapeutics’ early discovery and preclinical ADC development activities over the years and I was always very intrigued by NBE-Therapeutics’ highly differentiated and effective ADC platform with high potential to significantly improve therapies for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. I was particularly intrigued by the high therapeutic index and immune-oncology function of NBE-Therapeutics’ iADCs, as well as the impressive safety profile of NBE’s lead product NBE-002 in pivotal GLP-toxicology studies, especially when comparing to other ADCs in the field. I am convinced that NBE’s iADCs have the potential to become best-in-class therapies in many difficult to treat cancer indications. I am very excited to advance and to develop a clinical pipeline of iADC drugs together with my management colleagues and NBE’s stakeholders for the benefit of cancer patients in need of better therapies."

About NBE-Therapeutics AG
NBE-Therapeutics is a privately-owned Swiss, Basel-based Biotech company, founded in 2012 with the vision of developing next-generation antibody drug conjugate (ADC) products. NBE advances its products to clinical proof of concept with the goal of improving treatment options for cancer patients. The company leverages proprietary platforms covering all aspects of ADC development: its Transpo-mAb Display™ technology for antibody discovery, its SMAC-Technology™ for site-specific payload conjugation of toxins to antibodies and a novel highly effective and immune-stimulatory anthracycline-based toxin platform. The company is financially backed by the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (D), the PPF Group (CZ) and Novo Holdings (DK) as institutional investors, and by additional Swiss, German and Dutch private investors.

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