ImmPACT Bio Names Jonathan Benjamin, M.D., Ph.D. as Chief Medical Officer

—Seasoned physician-scientist and R&D executive, with significant experience building and growing successful clinical development organizations—

WEST HILLS, Calif., Sept. 13, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmPACT Bio USA, Inc. ("ImmPACT Bio"), a clinical-stage company developing transformative logic-gate-based chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for treating cancer, today announced the appointment of Jonathan Benjamin, M.D., Ph.D. as its chief medical officer. Dr. Benjamin will lead ImmPACT's clinical development strategy.

Dr. Benjamin brings extensive leadership experience in both early and late-stage clinical research and development in the biopharmaceutical space, as well as complementary clinical practice expertise as a hematologist-oncologist to ImmPACT Bio. He most recently served as senior vice president for clinical research at Atreca, Inc., where he established Atreca's clinical research and development organization and led the development of its first clinical asset. Before joining Atreca, Dr. Benjamin served as medical director at Amgen Inc., where he led the design and execution of multiple clinical trials for bispecific T-cell engagers (BiTEs®) to treat hematologic malignancies and contributed to the global registration of Blincyto® (blinatumomab).

"On behalf of the entire ImmPACT Bio organization and board of directors, I am thrilled to welcome Jonathan as our chief medical officer," said Sumant Ramachandra, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., president and CEO of ImmPACT Bio. "Jonathan has an outstanding track record of building clinical development teams from the ground up – including operations, informatics, and translational medicine functions. In addition, Jonathan's deep experience as a hematologist-oncologist, immunologist, and clinical researcher, will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline of next-generation CAR T-cell therapies that harness the immune system and address key challenges for current cell therapies in cancer."

"Throughout my career in medicine and biotechnology, I have sought to leverage the power of the human immune system to address critical unmet needs of people living with cancer," said Dr. Benjamin. "ImmPACT Bio is at the forefront of CAR T-cell research, and I am excited to join this outstanding team in bringing our novel next-generation therapies to clinic, and to ultimately achieve our mission of delivering curative therapies to patients in desperate need of better treatments." 

Prior to transitioning to the biopharmaceutical industry, Dr. Benjamin was an assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Blood and Marrow Transplant at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he served as an attending physician on the inpatient unit, outpatient infusion center, and clinic. A principal investigator for multiple clinical trials, he has authored more than 25 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles and book chapters, as well as numerous clinical and regulatory documents including investigational new drug (IND) and biologics license application (BLA) filings.

Dr. Benjamin is board-certified in hematology and medical oncology. He earned his medical degree and Ph.D. in immunology from New York University and his bachelor's degree from Harvard College. Dr. Benjamin completed his clinical training and post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

About ImmPACT Bio
ImmPACT Bio USA, Inc., is a clinical-stage company dedicated to the discovery of transformative chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies for cancer patients who have exhausted their treatment options. The company's logic-gate-based CAR T-cell platforms address key biological challenges in treating cancer. ImmPACT Bio's technologies are specifically designed to prevent antigen escape, prevent 'on-target – off-tumor' toxicities, and overcome the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. The company's technology is based on the work of pioneering scientists Yvonne Chen, Ph.D., and Antoni Ribas, M.D., Ph.D., both from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Gideon Gross, Ph.D., from the MIGAL-Galilee Research Institute. For more information, visit www.immpact-bio.com.

SOURCE ImmPACT Bio