Treadwell Announces Strategic Pipeline Prioritization and Leadership Transitions
TORONTO AND SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 5, 2023 — Treadwell Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel first-in-class medicines for unmet needs in cancer, today announced that it is realigning its pipeline, workforce and management structure to support its highest value program and extend its cash runway to prioritize the execution of key near term value drivers and clinical milestones.
Treadwell has elected to focus on its first-in-class PLK4 inhibitor, CFI-400945, in relapsed/refractory AML by expanding the ongoing company sponsored TWT-202 study, building on exciting signals of efficacy seen at earlier phases, and advancing towards a potential pivotal study in 2025. The company will seek to capitalize on very promising proof-of-concept from sponsored clinical studies of CFI-402257 (TTK/Mps1 inhibitor) and CFI-402411 (HPK1 inhibitor) through further, innovative collaborative studies and work with potential partners to accelerate timelines.
Shane Burgess, co-CEO has transitioned to the role of Executive Chair, while Michael Tusche, Ph.D., co-CEO has left the company to pursue other endeavours. Roger Sidhu, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, has been appointed Acting CEO.
Dr. Sidhu brings to Treadwell an extensive track record of success over the last nearly 20 years in hematologic and solid tumor oncology research and development. He is a seasoned leader with deep translational, clinical and regulatory experience across multiple therapeutic modalities and platforms including small molecules, biologics and cell and gene therapies. Most recently, Dr. Sidhu was the Chief Medical Officer at Eterna Therapeutics, a gene editing and cell therapy company where he advanced multiple novel programs. Previously, Dr. Sidhu served as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical officer at Roivant Sciences. Roger was also the Chief Medical Officer at Cell Design Labs, up until its acquisition by the Gilead subsidiary Kite, where he subsequently served as VP, Clinical Development. Dr. Sidhu also held various roles of increasing responsibility at Amgen over a nearly decade that included managing FDA and EU approval of panitumumab in metastatic colorectal cancer. Dr. Sidhu is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in both internal medicine and medical oncology. He earned his medical degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario Canada.
“Roger brings a unique and broad set of skills and strategic thinking to Treadwell over a long and successful career. We are confident that under his leadership, Treadwell will aggressively advance into an exciting new chapter in our mission to address unmet needs in difficult to treat cancers with first-in-class medicines,” said Shane Burgess, Executive Chair of Treadwell Therapeutics. “In order to increase operational efficiency and to focus on key, value driving priorities, we have made the difficult business decision to reduce our workforce by approximately 30% and to redirect clinical efforts for several Treadwell-sponsored trials to other avenues. We would like to extend our deep gratitude to the
Treadwell team, investigators and patients involved in our clinical programs. These actions allow us to focus on investing in key near term milestones for CFI-400945.”
“Treadwell has developed a broad clinical and research-stage pipeline of first-in-class small molecules, biologics and TCR-based cell therapies. We have reached an inflection point which allows us to focus on the most near-term path to value with CFI-400945 in relapsed/refractory AML with a view to advancing to pivotal stage studies,” said Roger Sidhu, M.D., Acting CEO of Treadwell Therapeutics. “Given the very promising clinical data we have generated, we also look forward to advancing CFI-402257 (TTK inhibitor) and CFI-402411 (HPK1 inhibitor) with external collaborators and investigators moving forward in breast cancer and immunotherapy-based treatment of cancer, respectively, in addition to actively seeking partners for our pre-clinical programs.”
About Treadwell Therapeutics
Treadwell Therapeutics is a clinical-stage oncology company developing novel medicines to address unmet needs in patients with cancer. The Company’s robust, internally developed clinical pipeline includes CFI-400945 (PLK4 inhibitor), CFI-402257 (TTK/Mps1 inhibitor) and CFI-402411 (HPK1 inhibitor). Treadwell also has a broad pre-clinical pipeline with multiple biologic and next generation TCR based autologous cell therapy programs. For more information, please visit www.treadwelltx.com.
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