Mission Therapeutics Appoints Scientific Advisory Board

CAMBRIDGE, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mission Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company focused on selectively targeting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) to treat serious diseases including mitochondrial diseases, neurodegeneration, inflammation and cancer, today announced the formation of its inaugural Scientific Advisory Board (SAB).

Mission’s co-founder and CSO, Professor Steve Jackson, FRS, FMedSci will chair the SAB, where he will be joined by four independent, internationally renowned scientists:

• Professor Sir Philip Cohen FRS, FRSE, FFMedSci, FAA, Professor of Enzymology and Deputy Director of the Division of Signal Transduction Therapy, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland
• Professor Patrick Chinnery FRCP, FMedSci, Head of the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, England
• Professor Jacob Corn, Director at the Innovative Genomics Institute, and Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Professor Titia Sixma, Group Leader and Head of Biochemistry Division at the Netherlands Cancer Institute, Professor at Erasmus MC Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Mission has built a leadership position and strength in the DUB field, and the SAB will provide strategic advice to the Company as it shapes and progresses its therapeutic programs and pipeline of first-in-class DUB inhibitors.

On welcoming the members to the SAB, Dr. Anker Lundemose, Mission’s CEO, said:

“We have attracted a prestigious group of experts to our Scientific Advisory Board, where they bring a wealth of experience across, cell signaling, posttranslational modifications, mitochondrial diseases, neurodegeneration and oncology.

“The formation of this Board will help drive forward the clear clinical potential of our unique DUB platform for the production of first-in-class compounds targeting specific disease-associated DUBs for key indications where effective therapies are currently unavailable. The SAB members’ insights and guidance will prove invaluable as we prioritize and advance our programs.”

For more information about the members of the SAB, see: http://missiontherapeutics.com/press-release/mission-therapeutics-appoints-scientific-advisory-board/

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About Mission Therapeutics

Mission Therapeutics is discovering and developing first-in-class therapeutics that inhibit disease-associated deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) involved in serious diseases including mitochondrial diseases, neurodegeneration, inflammation and cancer.

Mission has built a proprietary world-leading DUB platform that is generating a rich pipeline of highly potent and specific small molecule drug candidates. These candidates have excellent clinical and commercial potential. Using patient selection strategies, the Company is now progressing several programs towards clinical development.

The Company has strong collaborations with key academic and research centers including Cancer Research UK Laboratories & Gurdon Institute at University of Cambridge, Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre at University of Oxford, and the Wellcome Trust Mitochondrial Research Centre at Newcastle University.

In February 2016, Mission completed an $86m financing that was led by Touchstone Innovations and Woodford Patient Capital Trust, and included participation from existing investors Sofinnova Partners, Roche Venture Fund, Pfizer Venture Investments and SR One.

Mission Therapeutics was founded in 2011 and its leadership team comprises international, commercial and scientific experience. The Company is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK.

Find out more about Mission Therapeutics at www.missiontherapeutics.com or follow @MISSIONTherapeu.

About deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs)

DUBs comprise a group of around 100 proteins that play important roles in regulating ubiquitylation. This process is where ubiquitin – a small regulatory protein so called because it is present in all complex organisms and virtually every all cells in the body – controls protein homeostasis, protein activity, intracellular location, and sub-cellular turnover or degradation.