Alentis Appoints Alberto Toso Chief Scientific Officer

BASEL, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Alentis Therapeutics (“Alentis”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments for organ fibrosis and Claudin-1 positive tumors, announced today that Dr. Alberto Toso has been appointed as Chief Scientific Officer effective immediately. Alberto joined Alentis in 2021 as Head of Oncology.

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Alberto Toso, Chief Scientific Officer of Alentis Therapeutics (Photo: Alentis Therapeutics)

“Alberto has been instrumental in rapidly advancing and expanding our oncology pipeline,” said Roberto Iacone, Chief Executive Officer of Alentis. “Our lead program ALE.C04, an anti-Claudin-1 antibody, is currently tested in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial for head and neck cancer also in combination with Pembrolizumab. Beyond ALE.C04, we are expediting the development of two first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) in oncology, ALE.P02 and ALE.P03.”

Toso commented: “It is becoming increasingly clear that targeting Claudin-1 has tremendous potential for treating cancer. As CSO, it is my objective to harness the full potential of Claudin-1 with the development of anti-Claudin-1 ADCs to benefit a wide range of cancer patients.”

Alberto Toso joined Alentis as Head of Oncology in 2021. He has more than 10 years of drug development experience in small and large molecules for immune oncology (IO) and targeted therapies. Prior to Alentis, he was Department Head in the molecular targeted therapy group, oncology at Roche where he led small molecule projects for IO through various stages of development. As a postdoc at the Institute of Oncology Research in Bellinzona, Switzerland, Alberto developed and characterized mouse models for prostate cancer. His work has been published in top scientific journals such as Nature, Nature Communications and Cell Reports. Alberto holds a PhD in Biochemistry from ETH, in Zurich, Switzerland.

About Alentis Therapeutics
Alentis Therapeutics, the CLDN1 company, is a clinical-stage biotech developing breakthrough treatments for CLDN1+ tumors and organ fibrosis. CLDN1 is a previously unexploited target that plays a key role in the pathology of cancer and fibrotic disease. Alentis is the leading company pioneering anti-CLDN1 antibodies and ADCs to modify and reverse the course of disease.

Alentis was founded in 2019 based on ground-breaking research in the laboratory of Prof. Thomas Baumert, MD at the University of Strasbourg and the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm). Alentis is headquartered in pharma-biotech hub Basel, Switzerland with an R&D subsidiary in Strasbourg, France and clinical operations in the US. Visit https://alentis.ch

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