Quince Therapeutics Launches Scientific Advisory Board

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Quince Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: QNCX), a late-stage biotechnology company developing an innovative drug delivery technology that leverages a patient’s own biology to deliver rare disease therapeutics, today announced the launch of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of leading experts in biochemistry, neurology, immunology, hematology, pharmacology, and clinical practice.

“We are pleased to announce the formation of our Scientific Advisory Board to support Quince in our scientific and medical programs,” said Dirk Thye, M.D., Quince’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer. “We have assembled a highly distinguished group of scientific and clinical thought leaders who are uniquely positioned to provide deep insights and advice, including to support the advancement of our Phase 3 lead asset, EryDex, for the potential treatment of a rare neurodegenerative disease, Ataxia-Telangiectasia.”

Dr. Mauro Magnani, Ph.D., Chair of Quince’s Scientific Advisory Board, said, “Quince’s AIDE technology is designed to harness the power of a patient’s own red blood cells to optimize the pharmacokinetics and biodistribution of a therapeutic and deliver sustained treatment. I look forward to collaborating with the renowned members of Quince’s management team, Board of Directors, and Scientific Advisory Board to support the company’s mission to bring its innovative drug delivery technology to patients living with rare diseases.”

Quince’s newly formed SAB includes the following seven founding members:

• Mauro Magnani, Ph.D., Chair of the SAB, is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Urbino, Italy and is a co-founder of Quince’s proprietary Autologous Intracellular Drug Encapsulation (AIDE) technology platform. Dr. Magnani developed and patented a method for using autologous red blood cells that allow for the slow delivery of different drugs in circulation to treat patients in need. His areas of interest and current research include red blood cells as drug delivery systems and as circulating bioreactors, development and delivery of biologics, and nanomaterials in drug delivery and imaging. Dr. Magnani has authored more than 500 papers published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals, holds 16 patents, and has co-edited three books, in addition to serving as an editorial board member for several biomedical journals and referee for different international scientific institutions. He is a member of the National Committee for Biotechnology, Presidency of the Italian Government, and an Italian delegate at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and at the European Commission. Dr. Magnani received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Urbino, Italy.
• Carlo Brugnara, M.D., is a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Hematology Laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Brugnara’s clinical laboratory-based research has focused on the use of hematological parameters to assess the balance between iron availability and erythropoiesis. He has described the appearance of functional iron deficiency in normal subjects treated with recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) based on the particular flow cytometric characteristics of erythrocytes and reticulocytes. Dr. Brugnara also has shown the clinical value of reticulocyte parameters in the setting of r-HuEPO use and in the diagnosis of iron deficiency in children. He is a fellow of the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists, in addition to serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Hematology. He received his M.D. from the University of Verona, Italy and completed his postdoctoral fellowship at the laboratory of Dr. Daniel Tosteson in the Department of Physiology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brugnara also trained in Clinical Pathology and Transfusion Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and holds board certifications in both specialties.
• William Jusko, Ph.D., is a State University of New York Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Buffalo University Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Jusko’s research interests are in theoretical, basic, and clinical aspects of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of various immunosuppressive agents, including corticosteroids, as well as drugs used to treat diabetes, inflammation, and cancer. His research expertise includes the diverse effects of corticosteroids and he has evolved advanced mathematical models of receptor/gene-mediated responses. Dr. Jusko has developed mechanism-based pharmacokinetic, pharmacodynamic, and disease progression models and computational methods describing the action of various drugs and utilizes mathematical models of drug action to determine optimal dosage regimens. He has authored more than 600 publications, is a fellow of several societies, serves on the editorial boards of seven journals, and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics. Dr. Jusko received a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
• Howard Lederman, M.D., Ph.D., is a Professor of Pediatrics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Director of the Immunodeficiency Clinic, the Pediatric Immunology Laboratory, and the Ataxia-Telangiectasia (A-T) Clinical Center at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. Dr. Lederman specializes in the evaluation, diagnostic testing, and long-term management of patients of all ages who have known or suspected primary immunodeficiency diseases. Considered one of the world’s leading experts in the rare neurodegenerative disease A-T, Dr. Lederman’s current laboratory and clinical research focuses on better understanding and treating A-T patients, and will participate as an investigator in Quince’s upcoming Phase 3 clinical trial of its lead asset, EryDex. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Association of Immunologists, the American Society for Microbiology, and the Clinical Immunology Society. Dr. Lederman received a M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan Medical School and completed a residency in pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and a fellowship in immunology at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. He is board certified by the American Board of Pediatrics.
• Vladimir Muzykantov, M.D., Ph.D., is a Founders Professor of Nanoparticle Research at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (UPENN), Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics at the Perelman School of Medicine, UPENN, and Founding Director of the Center for Translational Targeted Therapeutics and Nanomedicine, UPENN. Dr. Muzykantov conducts research in drug/gene targeting in the vascular system, including devising drug delivery systems for precise molecular interventions in the lungs, heart, brain, spleen, and other organs and blood components, including host defense agents. Since the early 1980s, he has explored red blood cells as natural carriers for prolonged circulation and site-specific delivery of drugs aimed at regulation of bleeding, clotting, thrombolysis, inflammation, and complement. He also investigates the mechanisms controlling drug delivery at the level of whole organism to nanoscale regulation of intracellular targeting/trafficking of drugs. He holds a portfolio of intellectual property, including about 40 patents and disclosures, and has authored more than 280 publications. Dr. Muzykantov was elected as a co-Chair of the Gordon Research Conference on Drug Carriers and was a recipient of the Established Investigator Award and Bugher Stroke Award from the American Heart Association. He received a M.D. in Internal Medicine from the First Moscow Medical School and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Russian National Cardiology Research Center in Moscow.
• Susan Perlman, M.D., is a Clinical Professor in the Department of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles and Director of the UCLA Ataxia and Neurogenetics Clinical Trials Programs and Post-Polio Program. Leveraging three decades as a clinical professor of Neurology, Dr. Perlman is an expert in building subspecialty clinics that diagnose and treat patients living with rare, progressive, and incurable disorders, including Friedreich’s ataxia, Huntington’s disease, and all types of genetic and non-genetic cerebellar ataxias, such as A-T. She has long been a site primary investigator for Friedreich’s ataxia trials, sits on the Medical Advisory Board of the National Ataxia Foundation, and will participate as an investigator in Quince’s upcoming Phase 3 clinical trial of its lead asset, EryDex. Dr. Perlman currently oversees four natural history studies and serves as an investigator for numerous clinical trials as she works to spearhead the development of disease-modifying therapies to address the significant unmet needs in rare disease. She began her specialty work in chronic diseases of the neuromuscular system, including muscular dystrophy, spinal cord diseases, and cerebral palsy. Dr. Perlman was awarded the Sherman M. Mellinkoff Faculty Award at the Hippocratic Oath ceremony of the graduating class of 2008, which is considered the highest faculty distinction at the David Geffen School of Medicine. She received a M.D. from the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and completed a residency in Neurology and a two-year Muscular Dystrophy Association fellowship in Neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
• James Spudich, Ph.D., is the Douglass M. and Nola Leishman Professor of Cardiovascular Disease in the Department of Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Over the last five decades, the Spudich laboratory studied the structure and function of the myosin family of molecular motors in vitro and in vivo, and they developed multiple new tools, including in vitro motility assays taken to the single molecule level using laser traps. That work led to his laboratory’s current focus at Stanford on the human cardiac sarcomere and the molecular basis of hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathy. Dr. Spudich postulated in 2015 that a majority of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mutations are likely to be shifting beta-cardiac myosin heads from a sequestered off-state to an active on-state for interaction with actin, resulting in the hyper-contractility seen clinically in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HMC) patients. This unifying hypothesis is different from earlier prevailing views, and this viewing an old disease in a new light has become the favored view in the field of the molecular basis of hypercontractility caused by HCM mutations. Dr. Spudich has given more than 50 named lectureships and keynote addresses and has received many honors, including election to the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award. He is credited with co-founding MyoKardia Inc, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion in 2020, and Cytokinetics, Inc., a late-stage, specialty cardiovascular biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Spudich received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Stanford University, in addition to completing his postdoctoral work in Genetics at Stanford University and in Structural Biology at the MRC Laboratory at Cambridge University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Quince’s SAB will provide expert insight and advice to support the advancement of the company’s lead asset, EryDex, targeting A-T, which is expected to begin enrollment for its pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in the second quarter of 2024. The SAB also will be a valuable resource as Quince looks to strategically expand its development pipeline to include additional potential rare disease indications for EryDex, as well as additional potential applications of its AIDE technology platform targeting rare and debilitating disease programs.

About Quince Therapeutics

Quince Therapeutics (Nasdaq: QNCX) is a late-stage biotechnology company dedicated to unlocking the potential of a patient’s own biology to deliver innovative and life-changing therapeutics to those living with rare diseases. For more information on the company and its latest news, visit www.quincetx.com and follow Quince Therapeutics on social media platforms LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter/X.

Forward-looking Statements

Statements in this news release contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are subject to the “safe harbor” created by those sections. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, may be forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release may be identified by the use of words such as “believe,” “may,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimated,” “potential,” “intend,” “will,” “can,” “seek,” or other similar words. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements relating to current and future clinical development of EryDex, expansion of the company’s proprietary autologous intracellular drug encapsulation (AIDE) technology for treatment of other rare diseases, and benefits and impact of Quince’s Scientific Advisory Board. Forward-looking statements are based on Quince’s current expectations and are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and assumptions that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from what the company expects. Further, certain forward-looking statements are based on assumptions as to future events that may not prove to be accurate. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties described in the section titled “Risk Factors” in the company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 14, 2023, and other reports as filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of this date, and Quince undertakes no duty to update such information except as required under applicable law.

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