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Avrum Spira: Expanded collaboration with Ankyra Therapeutics for local immunotherapy in NSCLC

Avrum Spira/LinkedIn

Jan 12, 2025, 19:21

Avrum Spira: Expanded collaboration with Ankyra Therapeutics for local immunotherapy in NSCLC

Avrum Spira, Global Head of the Interventional Oncology R&D Unit at Johnson and Johnson, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“We are excited to announce that we’ve expanded our collaboration with Ankyra Therapeutics to support the development of a locally administered immunotherapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

Our Interventional Oncology team is guided by a strategic vision to eliminate cancer with a unique approach to intratumoral treatment development. Lung cancer has the highest mortality of any cancer worldwide and patients need additional treatment options that are more effective and less toxic.

By collaborating with pioneering biotech partners like Ankyra Therapeutics, we can accelerate the development of innovative medicines delivered directly into tumors that have the potential to transform the trajectory of lung cancer care for patients and their families.

For important information concerning Johnson and Johnson and any related forward-looking statements, please refer to Johnson and Johnson’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K available.”

Howard Kaufman, President and CEO of Ankyra Therapeutics, shared this post, adding:

“I am very excited about working with the outstanding Interventional Oncology team at Johnson and Johnson to bring the potential of anchored-drug therapy to patients with lung cancer.”

Avrum “Avi” Spira, MD, MSc, is the Global Head of the Interventional Oncology R&D Unit at Johnson and Johnson. He is also an attending physician in the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston University-Boston Medical Center (BMC) and serves as a Professor of Medicine, Bioinformatics, and Pathology at Boston University, where he holds the Alexander Graham Bell Professorship in Health Care Entrepreneurship.

Previously, Dr. Spira was the Director of the Boston University-BMC Cancer Center and the founding Chief of the Division of Computational Biomedicine at Boston University.

Howard Kaufman is the President and CEO of Ankyra Therapeutics and a Clinical Associate at Massachusetts General Hospital. He previously served as Head of Research and Development at Immuneering Corporation.

Dr. Kaufman is an expert in cancer research, biotechnology, and healthcare management, with extensive experience in cancer immunotherapy and drug development.