Vlad Vitoc, Chairman, CEO, and President of of MAIA Biotechnology
Vlad Vitoc, M.D., is Chairman of Board, Chief Executive Officer, and President of MAIA Biotechnology Inc.
Dr. Vitoc has a broad array of experience across commercial strategic analysis and planning and medical affairs, with over 25 years of experience in Oncology Pharma/Biotech.
Dr. Vitoc held leadership roles at Bayer, Astellas, Cephalon, Novartis and Incyte and has managed and supported over 20 early, launch, and mature stage compounds, which have included targeted therapies and immune therapies across more than 25 tumor types, including colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and renal cell carcinoma.
“MAIA is an oncology company at which we develop new therapies for cancer that have a novel mechanism of action: telomere targeting and immunogenic effect, teaching the immune system to respond to cancer.
Our lead molecule is ateganosine, our new nonproprietary name for THIO, and is now beginning pivotal trials for commercialization in non-small cell lung cancer — NSCLC — after having shown extraordinary efficacy in a Phase II trial in the course of the last couple of years.
We have several follow-on molecules — three that are in preclinical development as we speak and several more in reserve, ready to proceed as well.
We look forward to bringing them to the clinic in the course of the next year or so.”
The cancer cure that MAIA is testing is a telomerase based approach:
“Cancer is a group of diseases that occur in the aging population.
There are many mechanisms by which cancer can appear, but one very important mechanism is the shortening of the telomeres.
With aging, telomeres, the protective end caps at the end of the chromosome arms, become shorter and shorter.
When they become critically short, then diseases of old age start to appear, including cancer.
Now, in cancer cells, something extraordinary happens: They turn their enzyme telomerase back on.
And so, they regain the ability to lengthen their telomeres.
Now, we have a scenario in which the cancer cells have long telomeres and reach a state of replicative immortality, continuing to divide, and the tumor grows, whereas the normal cells continue to suffer with short telomeres.
This happens in the process of aging.
The farther we advance in age, the shorter our telomeres become, and the more important this mechanism becomes in cancer genesis.
The enzyme telomerase is key for the THIO mechanism of action.
It picks up THIO instead of a guanine base and places it in the structure of the telomere, creates an unstable telomeric structure.
The telomere collapses, the DNA unwinds and the cancer cell dies.
What we observed in the preclinical setting is that this process is very fast and efficient.
It happens in 24 to 72 hours. And THIO directly kills 70% to 90% of the cancer cells.”
Erez Aminov, Chairman, CEO, MIRA Pharmaceuticals
Erez Aminov is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIRA Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders.
In addition, Mr. Aminov serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Telomir Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to treating age-related inflammatory and degenerative conditions.
Mr. Aminov also founded Locate Venture Corp, where he supported early-stage biotech enterprises and fostered growth through strategic partnerships.
He has also served as a trusted consultant for multiple biotech firms and successfully guided two companies through IPOs on the Nasdaq.
“Telomir-1 is our lead oral therapeutic designed to target key drivers of aging — including telomere shortening, oxidative stress, and metal imbalance. In a recent prostate cancer animal model using highly aggressive human cancer cells, Telomir-1 reduced tumor size by approximately 50% at both low and high doses.
It actively suppressed tumor growth while selectively protecting healthy cells, addressing long-standing concerns around telomere-elongating drugs and cancer risk.
When combined with Paclitaxel — a commonly used chemotherapy agent known for its efficacy but also its toxicity — Telomir-1 eliminated mortality and significantly reduced side effects.
We believe this protective effect is linked to Telomir-1’s ability to regulate metal ion activity and reverse oxidative stress, a major driver of chemotherapy-induced toxicity.
We’re also exploring Wilson’s Disease as a potential lead indication.
It’s a rare disorder caused by copper accumulation, and because our drug works through metal regulation, it’s a strong mechanistic fit.
As an orphan disease, it may also offer a faster clinical development path.”
Alan Auerbach, Chairman, CEO, President, Puma Biotechnology
A cancer cure for metastatic breast cancer is the goal of Puma Biotechnology.
Alan H. Auerbach has served as Chairman of the Board and as CEO and President of Puma Biotechnology since its inception.
Before joining Puma, Mr. Auerbach served as Founder, CEO, President and a member of the board of directors of Cougar Biotechnology from the company’s inception in 2003 until its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson in July 2009.
From July 2009 until January 2010, Mr. Auerbach served as Co-Chairman of the Integration Steering Committee at Cougar (as part of Johnson & Johnson) for Cougar’s lead product candidate, abiraterone acetate, which was approved for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer in the U.S. in April 2011 and in the European Union in September 2011.
Prior to founding Cougar, from June 1998 to April 2003 Mr. Auerbach was Vice President, Senior Research Analyst at Wells Fargo Securities, where he was responsible for research coverage of small- and middle-capitalization biotechnology companies, with a focus on companies in the field of oncology.
“Puma is a biotech company that is dedicated to the development and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of cancer.
The company was founded in 2011 upon the licensing of the drug Neratinib from Pfizer.
Neratinib is an orally available, irreversible, pan-HER inhibitor that inhibits HER1, HER2, and HER4.
The drug is currently FDA approved and is commercialized under the trade name NERLYNX.
The approval in the U.S. is for both the extended adjuvant treatment of HER2 positive breast cancer and for HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer.
It is also approved in many other geographies outside the U.S., including Europe, China, Canada, Latin America, and the Middle East.
And then in 2022, we added another product to the portfolio.
We in-licensed the investigational drug alisertib, which is a selective, small molecule, orally administered aurora kinase A inhibitor.
We’re currently developing the drug in multiple tumor types, including small cell lung cancer and hormone receptor positive HER2 negative breast cancer.”
A positive development for this cancer cure innovator is the positive income statement, rare among microcap biotechnology companies.
“As we mentioned in our most recent conference call for our fourth quarter earnings, Puma saw positive net income in fiscal year 2023 and 2024.
A lot of that was obviously driven by NERLYNX, because that’s our commercial product.
But it also was due to the financial discipline that we have instituted across the company in the last few years.
We’ve been very, very focused on expense reductions, which we have performed and which we continue to perform as a major contributor to our positive net income.
So, it is very nice for us to be able to have the revenue from NERLYNX, be able to clinically develop alisertib, and also achieve positive net income, not only for 2024, but also which we’re guiding to for the full year in 2025.
And we remain very, very committed to continuing to achieve that positive net income.
And we’ll continue to reduce expenses if we need to, to achieve that.”
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