AdvanCell Names New CTO and CSO, Expanding Executive Leadership Team

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AdvanCell named Justyna Kelly as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and François Gaudet as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Transitioning to the role of Chief Isotope Development Officer, from previously being CSO, is Simon Puttick. AdvanCell is a clinical stage radiopharmaceutical company that develops targeted alpha therapies for cancer.

By doing this, the Australia-based company expands its executive leadership team in the United States, continuing to scale U.S. capabilities. The company also wants to advance a growing pipeline of therapies.

AdvanCell Pipeline Details

Chief among these is 212Pb-ADVC001 (ADVC001), a proprietary, patented, prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting radioligand with optimized physicochemical properties. It is labeled with Lead-212 (212Pb), an alpha-emitting payload with high dose rate, 10.6-hour half-life, and simple decay scheme.

At the cellular level, the design of ADVC001 delivers radiation that effectively kills prostate cancer cells while reducing toxicity.

CTO and CSO Qualifications

Kelly most recently served as Vice President and Site Head of Eli Lilly and Company’s Indianapolis radioligand therapy manufacturing site. Gaudet was previously CSO at Mnemo Therapeutics, and held leadership roles at Novartis and Johnson & Johnson.

“AdvanCell has built a differentiated Lead-212 platform with the potential to meaningfully impact patients with cancer,” Kelly said.

Kelly expressed excitement to “execute a holistic strategy to scale our Lead-212 manufacturing infrastructure for Phase III and commercial readiness.”

“Lead-212 alpha therapy is a nascent field and ADVC001 represents a validation of the modality,” Gaudet said. “I’m excited to join the team to continue driving forward the pipeline development and help realize [their approach’s] full potential.”

AdvanCell CEO Philina Lee said the appointments reflect a desire to scale the company’s targeted alpha therapy platform worldwide.

“These leadership appointments strengthen AdvanCell’s ability to build a category-defining targeted alpha therapy company,” Lee said.

Currently, a prospective, open-label Phase I/II dose escalation and expansion study (TheraPb) is evaluating ADVC001 in metastatic prostate cancer.