Replimune Appoints Dr. Hyam I. Levitsky to Board of Directors

WOBURN, Massachusetts, June 11, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Replimune Group Inc., a biotechnology company developing next generation oncolytic immunotherapies, announced today it has appointed Hyam I. Levitsky, M.D. to the company's Board as an independent non-executive Director.

"Hy is a leading expert in immuno-oncology with deep experience in developing novel cancer immunotherapies," said Robert Coffin, Ph.D., co-founder and CEO of Replimune. "We are honored to have him serve on our board as we advance our oncolytic immunotherapies into the clinic."

Dr. Levitsky is a pioneer in immuno-oncology research with expertise in multiple areas including adoptive T cell therapies, cancer vaccines, and immunomodulatory therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignances and solid tumors. He most recently served as the Executive Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Juno Therapeutics, recently acquired by Celgene. Prior to joining Juno, Dr. Levitsky served as Head of Cancer Immunology Experimental Medicine at Roche Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Levitsky serves on the External Scientific Advisory Board of the Pasteur Institute's Center for Human Immunology, has consulted on a number of industry scientific advisory boards and contributes and provides editorial support to several prestigious cancer, immunology, scientific and medical publications.  Dr. Levitsky also holds several patents. He continues to serve as an adjunct Professor of Oncology, Medicine and Urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

"Oncolytic immunotherapy is an exciting area of cancer research that has the potential to allow more patients to benefit from immuno-oncologic approaches," said Dr. Levitsky. "I look forward to collaborating with one of the most experienced teams in oncolytic immunotherapy to advance Replimune's proprietary Immulytic^™ platform." 

About Oncolytic Immunotherapy

Oncolytic immunotherapy is an emerging class of cancer therapy which exploits the ability of viruses to selectively replicate in and kill tumors, while at the same time inducing a potent, patient-specific, anti-tumor immune response. Oncolytic viruses have the ability to induce a robust immune response against a patient's particular complement of tumor antigens, including neo-antigens, in situ in the patient in an off-the-shelf format. While clinically active alone, oncolytic immunotherapy may have synergy with certain other treatments and, in particular, with immune checkpoint blockade therapies.

About Replimune

Replimune Group Inc, headquartered in Woburn, MA, was founded in 2015 to develop the next generation of 'oncolytic immunotherapies' for the treatment of cancer. Replimune is developing novel, proprietary therapeutics intended to improve the direct cancer-killing effects of selective virus replication and the potency of the immune response to the tumor antigens released. The Company's Immulytic^™ platform is designed to maximize systemic immune activation, in particular to tumor neoantigens, through robust viral mediated immunogenic tumor cell killing and the delivery of optimal combinations of immune activating proteins to the tumor and draining lymph nodes. The approach is expected to be highly synergistic with immune checkpoint blockade and other approaches to cancer treatment. Replimune intends to progress these therapies rapidly through clinical development in combination with other immuno-oncology products with complementary mechanisms of action. For more information, please visit www.replimune.com.

SOURCE Replimune