Professor Melief to receive 2022 Pedro J. Romero Service to JITC Award from Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer

• The Pedro J. Romero Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the cancer immunotherapy field
• Second SITC award this year to Professor Melief who will be honoured at the 37^th SITC Annual Meeting

OEGSTGEEST, Netherlands, Sept. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ISA Pharmaceuticals B.V., a clinical stage biotech company developing immunotherapies to treat cancers and infectious diseases, is delighted to announce that Professor Dr. Cornelis "Kees" Melief, Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and Founder of ISA Pharmaceuticals, has been awarded the 2022 Pedro J. Romero Service to JITC Award by the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC). This Award recognizes individuals who made immeasurable contributions and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer (JITC) – the official journal of the SITC. The award will be presented at the SITC's 37th Annual Meeting in Boston, 8-12 November 2022.

This award announcement follows the news that Professor Melief will be inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Immuno-Oncology (FAIO), one of the SITC's most prestigious honors.

Gerben Moolhuizen, Chief Executive Officer of ISA Pharmaceuticals, said: "We are very proud that Kees will be receiving two of SITC's highest honors in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of cancer immunotherapy. His pioneering work holds the promise to significantly improve patient outcomes in the treatment of cancer, something we strive to carry forward to approved, clinically meaningful treatments. We truly value his dedication to patients and his scientific and medical guidance within our Company."

Professor Melief is a globally recognized immunology expert, specializing in cancer immunology and immunotherapy. He is known for his groundbreaking translational work in devising new cancer therapies that activate the patient's own immune system. In addition to his role as CSO at ISA Pharmaceuticals, he is Emeritus Professor of Immunology at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands. He is author of more than 545 peer-reviewed publications, cited over 67.000 times, and inventor on more than 30 patents and patent applications.

For ISA Pharmaceuticals, Professor Melief has been instrumental in the advancement of the versatile synthetic long peptide (SLP®) immunotherapy platform, yielding several clinical stage immunotherapeutics for the treatment of different cancer types and infectious diseases. The Company's lead product ISA101b was recently awarded Fast Track designation by the US FDA for treatment of recurrent and metastatic, human papilloma virus type 16 (HPV16)-positive oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) and also has US Orphan Drug Designation in HPV16-positive cervical cancer. ISA also has an emerging pipeline of SLP-based immunotherapies for highly prevalent diseases including PRAME-driven cancers and chronic hepatitis B.

About ISA Pharmaceuticals

ISA Pharmaceuticals is an immunotherapy company developing treatments for various cancers and infectious diseases. ISA Pharma has best-in-class technology to stimulate and activate the human immune system, specifically T cells, to fight diseased or infected cells. Its lead asset ISA101b is in late-stage clinical trials for human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV16)-induced cancers in a collaboration with biotechnology company Regeneron.

Other assets are in preclinical stage development and include immunotherapies to treat patients that suffer from cancers that over-express PRAME and cancers caused by other HPV types than HPV16, chronic hepatitis B or SARS-CoV2 infections. For more information, please visit www.isa-pharma.com.

About SITC

Established in 1984, the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) is a nonprofit organization of medical professionals dedicated to improving cancer patient outcomes by advancing the development, science and application of cancer immunotherapy and tumor immunology. SITC is comprised of influential basic and translational scientists, practitioners, health care professionals, government leaders and industry professionals around the globe. Through educational initiatives that foster scientific exchange and collaboration among leaders in the field, SITC aims to one day make the word "cure" a reality for cancer patients everywhere. Learn more about SITC, our educational offerings and other resources at sitcancer.org and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

To learn more about the Annual Awards and to view past recipients, visit SITC's website.

SOURCE ISA Pharmaceuticals