Oncimmune Holdings plc (LON:ONC), a leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of personalised immunodiagnostics for the screening, detection and care of cancer, announced today that it has appointed Adam Hill as Chief Executive Officer. His appointment follows founder Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley’s decision to step down as Chief Executive Officer and into a new role as Vice Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors and is effective 1st October 2018.
Dr Hill joined Oncimmune as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director earlier this year from McLaren Applied Technologies, where he was Chief Strategy Officer and responsible for its portfolio of health programmes, co-developed in partnership with blue chip pharma and medical device companies. Adam is a clinician-scientist, with a career built in industry, academia and care delivery. During his career, Adam has been responsible for developing technology and commercial strategies in the medical device and diagnostics industry, and has held senior leadership roles at private and listed companies, supplemented by advisory and government policy appointments.
Since joining Oncimmune, Dr Hill has been leading both the R&D team and a strategic review of the Company, with a view to identifying and capitalising on the opportunities presented by Oncimmune’s proprietary auto-antibody-based platform for individual profiling of cancer related antigens. This strategic review has confirmed the promise of the platform for individual profiling, early detection, improved care and new insights into the application of personalised approaches to improving cancer outcomes through new therapeutics. Further detail on plans to execute expansion through the roll out of additional EarlyCDT® tests and application of the platform in other areas of the cancer clinical pathway will be presented at the time of the Company’s results for the year ended 31 May 2018, which are expected in October.
Mr Hamilton-Fairley, an early pioneer in the field of cancer immunodiagnostics, joined Oncimmune in 2005 as it was established as a spin out of Nottingham University, and led the Company’s transition to a commercial phase company with the launch in the US of two early detection blood based tests in lung and liver cancer. He also led the geographic expansion with important collaborative partnerships in China, Europe and the Middle East.
Mr Hamilton-Fairley will transition to a new created role of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors and assist in developing the new senior leadership team as well as continuing to support the Company on certain key strategic projects.
Meinhard Schmidt, Non-Executive Chairman of Oncimmune Holdings, commented:
“We would like to thank Geoffrey for his vision and commitment over the last 13 years, which has led to Oncimmune becoming a leader in immunodiagnostics for cancer. He has built an experienced international team, strong internal science and a development platform with the capability to attract research partnerships and to establish next generation technology with new collaborations worldwide as the portfolio of programmes and products expands beyond the lung and liver tests to maximise shareholder value.
“We are delighted to welcome Adam as Oncimmune’s new CEO. His experience in the science, medicine and technology of personalised approaches to diagnostics and optimisation of healthcare delivery are an excellent fit for the Company’s ambitions as we progress towards realising our goals of delivering early detection and improved care for cancer patients.”
Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley commented:
“It has been a great experience leading Oncimmune from its spin out from Nottingham University and a team of dedicated colleagues and research collaborators who have been working together to transform the treatment of cancer through immunodiagnostics leading to early detection and improved care and outcomes. The Company is well positioned for an exciting future and it is now time to transition to new leadership who will take our products and technology through clinical development and broad global commercialisation, and Adam has demonstrated that he is the ideal leader to deliver the next phase of Oncimmune’s growth. My thanks and appreciation to the extended Oncimmune team and partners, past and present.”
Adam Hill commented:
“Oncimmune has a strong and proprietary position in immune profiling of cancer, and a compelling pipeline of clinical and commercial phase assets that will help unlock the potential of personalised immunodiagnostics for a broad portfolio of cancer indications. As the field of oncology sits on the cusp of dramatically improved cancer survivorship, I look forward to working with the Company’s experienced Board, and its highly talented executive and scientific teams to take Oncimmune’s immunodiagnostic solutions through clinical development and into the hands of clinicians to improve patient outcomes.”
Oncimmune Holdings plc is a leader in the development, manufacture and marketing of personalised immunodiagnostics for the screening, detection and care of cancer. The Group has pioneered the development of autoantibody tests that can detect cancer up to four years earlier than other methods and can be applied to a very wide range of solid tumour types. The Company’s first product, EarlyCDT®-Lung, was launched in 2012, as a CLIA test in the USA and since then over 155,000 commercial tests have been sold. EarlyCDT®-Lung is available through physicians in the US and also privately in the UK, Europe & Asia. EarlyCDT®-Lung is being used in the largest ever randomised trial for the early detection of lung cancer using biomarkers, the National Health Service (NHS) Scotland ECLS study of 12,210 high-risk smokers. EarlyCDT®-Liver launched in May 2018 and further tests are in development.
