CAMBRIDGE & WETHERBY, England– Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms announces the appointment of Christina Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., as Non-executive Director to the Board with immediate effect.
Dr. Coughlin is the Chief Executive Officer of CytoImmune Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, focused on the development and commercialisation of novel cancer immunotherapy products utilising engineered allogeneic natural killer cells to stimulate the patient’s immune system and eliminate cancer cells. Dr. Coughlin has a broad background in biotechnology and global pharmaceuticals, with comprehensive drug development experience spanning programmes in pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) studies through late-stage trials and regulatory approval filings, and a track record of building drug development teams in global companies.
Dr. Coughlin previously served as Chief Medical Officer to Rubius Therapeutics, Inc., where she led the clinical development, translational medicine and regulatory efforts for the company’s programmes emerging from its allogeneic red cell therapy platform. Prior to Rubius, Dr. Coughlin was with Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc., where she served as Chief Medical Officer and was responsible for the development of autologous CAR-T and TCR-T cellular therapies.
Dr. Coughlin has held other leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields in her career, including Chief Medical Officer at Immunocore, heading the development of the soluble TCR platform, and Oncology Asset Team Leader at Pfizer. Dr. Coughlin received her M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and completed fellowships in Haematology and Oncology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and in the Translational Research Group under the direction of Carl June, M.D., at the University of Pennsylvania.
