Shinobi Therapeutics Announces the Appointment of Dr. Laurent Fischer as Chair of its Board of Directors

• Dr Fischer brings 30+ years of experience leading and exiting innovative biotech companies focused on developing and commercializing breakthrough therapies, including Adverum Biotechnologies, recently acquired by Eli Lilly
• Shinobi prepares to advance two immune evasive iPSC therapies toward the clinic in 2026, and today announces its first data presentation at the upcoming Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting

SAN FRANCISCO and KYOTO, Japan, Nov. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Shinobi Therapeutics, the biotechnology company developing a new class of immune evasive iPS therapies, today announced the appointment of Laurent Fischer, MD, as its first independent Chair of the Board of Directors, alongside the company's first data presentation at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting taking place in National Harbor, MD from November 5-9, 2025. These milestones collectively reflect Shinobi's continued momentum as it advances its oncology and autoimmune pipeline toward clinical entry in 2026.

Dr. Fischer brings more than 30 years of senior leadership experience in biotechnology, with a demonstrated track record of building, scaling and exiting companies focused on breakthrough therapies. His accomplishments include the sale of Jennerex Biotherapeutics to SillaJen (2013), leading Tobira Therapeutics through its IPO and subsequent $1.7 billion acquisition to Allergan (2016), chairing CTI BioPharma through its approval and launch of Vonjo™ and subsequent $1.7 billion sale to SOBI and most recently, the sale of Adverum Biotechnologies to Eli Lilly in October 2025, handing off an advanced and potentially curative gene therapy for wet AMD.

Dr. Fischer brings extensive board experience, including current positions as first independent Director of Lycia Therapeutics, Director of Mirum Pharmaceuticals and Director of AtaiBeckley. He previously served as Chair of Tobira Therapeutics, Chairman of CTI BioPharma, Director of Senti Biosciences, and Senior Advisor of Frazier Healthcare Partners.

"Following the recent acquisition of Adverum, I'm excited to turn my focus to Shinobi Therapeutics to help lead advancement of the company's promising immune evasive iPSC-derived cell therapy programs," said Dr. Fischer. "Combining the ability to overcome traditional cell therapy cost and access barriers with a re-dosable, predictable, and potent treatment could transform the way we care for cancer and autoimmune patients."

The appointment comes as Shinobi publishes its first public data in a poster presentation at the 2025 SITC Conference, titled, "Systemic and regionally infused iPSC-Derived CD8 αβ T Cells Mediate Tumor Killing via TCR- and Innate Receptor-Dependent Mechanisms Enhanced by Cytokine Armoring." The poster will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 8^th as Abstract 1010.

Dr. Fischer joins the board following a strong Series A financing and a $71M non-dilutive grant from the Japanese Government's AMED program. These company milestones position Shinobi to continue development of NJA-001, an iPS-T cell therapy targeting GPC3 for solid tumors, and NJA-201, an iPS-NK cell therapy targeting CD19 for autoimmune diseases; and to advance Katana, the company's plug-and-play platform for rapid pipeline and cell type expansion.

About Shinobi Therapeutics

Shinobi Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a new class of patient and physician friendly off-the-shelf immune evasive iPSC-derived cell therapies to overcome conventional clinical and commercial barriers to cell therapies. The technology is based on the research of scientific co-founders Shin Kaneko, M.D., Ph.D., at Kyoto University and Tobias Deuse, M.D., at University of California, San Francisco. Shinobi closed a $51M Series A in 2023 and has a $71M non-dilutive grant from AMED to advance NJA-001 for solid tumor cancers, NJA-201 for autoimmune diseases, and the Katana platform for rapid pipeline expansion.

SOURCE Shinobi Therapeutics