Ribonexus appoints Dr. David Howat as Chief Development Officer

Experienced R&D leader reinforces Ribonexus’ team ahead of selection of first preclinical candidate in oncology indication
 
Villejuif, France, May 9, 2023 – Ribonexus, a biotechnology company developing new treatments to overcome resistance to current targeted therapies in cancer patients, today announces that it has appointed Dr. David Howat as Chief Development Officer (CDO), to strengthen the company’s leadership team as its lead compound progresses into preclinical development.
 
Under David’s development leadership, Ribonexus will advance its first lead compound through preclinical development and into first-in-human clinical studies, and further develop the R&D strategy of the company. Ribonexus is focused on building a pipeline of drugs targeting eukaryotic initiation factor-4A (eIF4A), which is highly active in a variety of solid and hematological cancers and whose activity is associated with resistance to many current therapies.
 
“I am thrilled to join Ribonexus to lead and accelerate development activities,” said David Howat. “Combining my experience in preclinical development and project management with Ribonexus’ novel approach and clinical expertise, will help us bring a new treatment forward to restore sensitivity in cancer patients who are resistant to current targeted therapies.”

Dr. Howat has over 30 years’ experience in pharmaceutical R&D and is the former CDO at Haoma Medica. David was also CDO & Head of R&D at Evgen Pharma. In his extensive career, he has been responsible for multiple regulatory filings and Phase I and II programs for several companies.

“I am pleased to welcome David to Ribonexus. His extensive experience in small molecule drug development will strengthen our internal development team,” said Steven Powell, President of Ribonexus. “With David’s development leadership and regulatory knowledge, the team will be able to accelerate our preclinical programs and get closer to creating a treatment to improve the lives of oncology patients.”
 
About Ribonexus
Ribonexus is an early-stage biotechnology company developing promising new oncology therapies. The company aims to deliver best- and first- in class drugs that restore sensitivity to current targeted therapies in those cancer patients who have become resistant to these treatments. Ribonexus has established a library of small inhibitor molecules, targeting RNA translation. The company’s core Intellectual Property (IP) was licensed from Pierre Fabre alongside science foundations from leading French research institutes Gustave Roussy, Institut Curie and the University of Strasbourg.
Ribonexus was co-founded in 2021 by Adbio partners. In 2021 the company raised €4M in seed funding from AdBio partners, Credit Mutuel Innovation and Pierre Fabre Invest.
www.ribonexus-project.com