NEW HAVEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Halda Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a novel class of cancer therapies called RIPTACTM (Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimeras) therapeutics, today announced that Dr. Eyal Attar has joined the company as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Attar brings to Halda over 25 years of biotechnology R&D and clinical trial experience in the advancement of novel therapeutics.
“Dr. Attar is a seasoned biotechnology industry veteran, and we are thrilled for him join the Halda team at this exciting time,” said Christian Schade, President and CEO of Halda Therapeutics. “As Halda advances our novel small molecule RIPTAC modality in clinical studies, the breadth of Eyal’s clinical development and R&D strategy experience will be instrumental to achieving our ambitious development goals and future success.”
“Halda’s novel RIPTAC small molecule platform is a new and exciting modality in the treatment of patients with cancer and other serious diseases,” said Dr. Attar, Halda’s incoming CMO. “I look forward to working with the outstanding team at Halda and with clinical partners to advance the current clinical study in prostate cancer, the future RIPTAC development program in breast cancer, in addition to advancing this modality to patients with a range of other serious diseases.”
Dr. Attar was most recently CMO of Vor Bio, a publicly traded, clinical-stage cell and genome engineering company developing clinical therapeutics for patients with cancer. Prior to Vor, Attar served as senior vice president and CMO for Aprea Therapeutics where he led development of Aprea’s research programs, including overseeing clinical development, pharmacovigilance and regulatory filings. Before Aprea, he held multiple positions in clinical development at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he worked on various solid tumor oncology and hematologic malignancy programs and contributed to the successful filing of multiple INDs. Dr. Attar was previously an attending hematologist/oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital focusing on leukemias, MDS, and other hematologic malignancies affecting the bone marrow. He completed fellowship training at Dana-Farber Cancer Center and residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Attar received his medical degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Halda is currently enrolling patients in the first-in-human, Phase 1/2 clinical trial (NCT06800313) to evaluate the safety and tolerability of HLD-0915 in the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The Phase 1/2 open label, multi-center clinical trial is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), pharmacodynamics (PD), and anti-tumor activity of orally administered, single-agent HLD-0915 in mCRPC patients. The study will include an initial Phase 1 dose escalation to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and/or recommended dose(s) for expansion of HLD-0915 as monotherapy and a Phase 2 expansion cohort to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of HLD-0915.
About HLD-0915
HLD-0915 is an innovative bifunctional small molecule therapy designed to selectively target prostate cancer tumors cells by holding together, with defined orientation and purpose, androgen receptor (a tumor-specific intracellular targeting protein) and a protein with essential function (effector protein). The ternary complex drives the formation of new, or neomorphic, protein-protein interactions, abrogating an essential function within cancer cells which results in an antitumor effect. HLD-0915 is designed to drive specific interactions between selected proteins to achieve optimal activity and pharmacology, as demonstrated in Halda’s preclinical studies. In preclinical prostate cancer models, orally delivered HLD-0915 treatment resulted in tumor shrinkage and declines in prostate-specific antigen (PSA), while delivering a favorable therapeutic index including in models of drug resistance.
About Halda Therapeutics
Halda Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that has developed a proprietary RIPTAC™ (Regulated Induced Proximity Targeting Chimeras) modality that works by a novel “hold and kill” mechanism for the precision treatment of cancer. The novel mechanism of action of RIPTAC therapeutics is uniquely designed to address cancer’s ability to evolve bypass mechanisms of resistance, a common limitation of today’s precision oncology medicines. Our lead RIPTAC programs are in clinical and pre-clinical development for major solid tumor types with additional RIPTAC therapeutic programs in our pipeline to treat serious disease. Halda is led by a leadership team with deep expertise in biotechnology, drug discovery, platform innovation, and clinical development, and is located in New Haven, CT. For more information, please visit www.haldatx.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Contacts
Media Contact:
Kathryn Morris
The Yates Network LLC
914-204-6412
kathryn@theyatesnetwork.com
