TCR² Therapeutics Inc. announced an expansion of its leadership team to strengthen expertise in manufacturing, Investigational New Drug (IND) enablement and innovation as the Company advances its approach of creating next generation TRuC^TM-T cells addressing the tumor microenvironment.
 
Robert Tighe joins TCR² as Vice President of Translational Research. Previously, he served as Vice President of Translational Immunology and Immunopharmacology at Compass Therapeutics, where he led the discovery and IND approval of CTX-471, a CD137 agonist antibody, and built the cellular immunology and autoimmunity research teams. 
 
Dario Gutierrez, Ph.D., joins TCR² as Vice President of Discovery and Innovation. He previously was Director and Head of Investigational Biology and Immuno-Biology in the Merck Exploratory Science Center at Merck & Co., where he was responsible for establishing discovery programs consisting of different modalities such as small molecules, biologics and cell therapy, and a diverse portfolio that includes reverse-translational systems immunology discovery and multiple immuno-oncology target identification efforts. 
 
Nigel Williams joins TCR² as Vice President of Manufacturing. Most recently, he served at OvaScience as Senior Vice President of Global Technical Development and Operations, where he held numerous responsibilities including clinical and commercial operations management, building and qualifying multiple global GMP cell processing laboratories, developing a global supply chain and executing improvement processes and practices across the organization. 
 
“It is a pleasure to expand our leadership team with experts that deepen three core TCR² competencies – manufacturing, IND enablement and innovation,” said Garry Menzel, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of TCR² Therapeutics. “Earlier this year we established a manufacturing footprint in the United Kingdom by becoming the first U.S. company to strike a collaboration with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. We have already hired several experienced operators including our new Vice President of Manufacturing, Nigel Williams. His guidance and deep expertise in building manufacturing facilities will enable us to provide additional treatment capacity for future clinical trial demand and develop full cGMP capabilities. We are also adding experienced pharmaceutical company executives Robert Tighe (EMD Serono) and Dario Gutierrez (Merck) as Vice Presidents to drive further IND activities and innovation of our next generation of TRuC-T cells.”
 
“Engineering TRuC-T cells with innovative enhancements, such as bispecific targeting, accessories to address the tumor microenvironment and the development of off-the-shelf allogeneic TRuCs are the next steps in extracting significant value from our unique platform,” said Robert Hofmeister, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of TCR² Therapeutics. “We are thrilled to have Dario and Robert developing our next generation of TRuCs and advancing these initiatives into the clinic. Dario has more than a decade of experience focusing on innovative immunology and drug discovery, including allogeneic and gamma-delta T cell therapies, and will lead the research effort of the innovation focus group. Robert, who successfully advanced four INDs while at EMD Serono and Compass Therapeutics including the NHS-IL12 immunocytokine and anti-PD-L1 antibody avelumab, brings over 25 years of experience in early clinical development and IND preparation, and will lead the translational research and IND enablement effort.”