Barinthus Bio Names Experienced Physician, Leon Hooftman, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer

OXFORD, United Kingdom, May 01, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barinthus Biotherapeutics plc (NASDAQ: BRNS), formerly Vaccitech plc, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel T cell immunotherapeutic candidates designed to guide the immune system to overcome chronic infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and cancer, today announced the appointment of Leon Hooftman, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer (CMO).

“We are happy to welcome Dr. Hooftman to Barinthus Bio as our Chief Medical Officer. With his experience spearheading clinical studies from early development through late-stage trials, he is a valuable addition to the Barinthus Bio team during a critical time in our growth,” said Chief Executive Officer, Bill Enright. “Dr. Hooftman’s background as a clinician and biotech CMO will be invaluable as we advance Barinthus Bio’s extensive pipeline and goals to develop first-in-class therapies for diseases with unmet needs.”

Dr. Hooftman brings significant drug development expertise across a broad array of therapeutic areas including oncology, infectious diseases, and inflammation. His R&D portfolio includes successful clinical trial programs that resulted in the development of novel agents: mycophenolate mofetil (transplantation), rituximab (Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma), gemtuzumab ozogamycin (Leukemia), and lipid complex amphotericin B (serious fungal infections). He has held senior management positions at Roche and UCB Celltech and has subsequently been a CMO of several biotechnology companies. He joins Barinthus Bio from ISA Pharmaceuticals, a specialist immune-oncology company.

“I am pleased to be joining Barinthus Bio at this phase in the company’s trajectory,” said Dr. Hooftman. “I am encouraged by the breadth of pipeline the company has established and I look forward to bringing my experience to support the advancement of the T cell immunotherapeutic candidates to help people living with life-threatening diseases.”

Dr. Hooftman holds a MD from Utrecht State University (Netherlands) and performed his specialist training in Cambridge and London (UK). Dr. Hooftman will step into his new role at the beginning of June 2024.

About Barinthus Biotherapeutics

Barinthus Bio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel T cell immunotherapeutic candidates designed to guide the immune system to overcome chronic infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and cancer. Helping people living with serious diseases and their families is the guiding principle at the heart of Barinthus Bio. With a broad pipeline, built around three proprietary platform technologies: ChAdOx, MVA and SNAP; Barinthus Bio is advancing a pipeline of four product candidates across a diverse range of therapeutic areas, including: VTP-300, an immunotherapeutic candidate designed as a potential component of a functional cure for chronic HBV infection; VTP-200, a non-surgical product candidate for persistent high-risk HPV infection; VTP-1000, an autoimmune candidate designed to utilize the SNAP-Tolerance Immunotherapy (TI) platform to treat patients with celiac disease; and VTP-850, a second-generation immunotherapeutic candidate designed to treat recurrent prostate cancer. Barinthus Bio’s proven scientific expertise, diverse portfolio, and focus on pipeline development uniquely positions the company to navigate towards delivering treatments for people with infectious diseases, autoimmunity, and cancers that have a significant impact on their everyday lives. For more information, visit www.barinthusbio.com. 

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Barinthus Bio within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, which can generally be identified as such by use of the words “may,” “will,” “plan,” “forward,” “encouraging,” “believe,” “potential,” and similar expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, express or implied statements regarding our product development activities and clinical trials, including timing for readouts of any interim data or next steps for any of our programs, our ability to develop and advance our current and future product candidates and programs, and our expectation that Dr. Hooftman’s experience as a clinician and biotech CMO will be invaluable to the advancement of our extensive pipeline. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on our management’s current expectations and beliefs and are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and important factors that may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements contained in this press release, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties related to the success, cost and timing of our pipeline development activities and planned and ongoing clinical trials, our ability to execute on our strategy, regulatory developments, our ability to fund our operations and access capital, that Dr. Hooftman’s prior experience and appointment as our CMO may not be predictive of Barinthus Bio’s advancement of its product candidates; that Dr. Hooftman’s expertise and guidance may not necessarily be predictive of Barinthus Bio’s success in advancement of its pipeline, the risk that interim or topline data may not reflect final data or results, global economic uncertainty, including disruptions in the banking industry, the conflict in Ukraine, the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and other risks identified in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. We caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any such statements to reflect any change in expectations or in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements may be based, or that may affect the likelihood that actual results will differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

IR contacts:
Christopher M. Calabrese 
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Kevin Gardner
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Media contact:  
Audra Friis
Sam Brown, Inc.
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Company contact:  
Jonothan Blackbourn
IR & PR Manager
Barinthus Bio
IR@barinthusbio.com