Company Overview
Chemomab is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics for fibro-inflammatory diseases with high unmet need. Based on the unique role of the soluble protein CCL24 in promoting fibrosis and inflammation, Chemomab developed CM-101, a first-in-class dual activity monoclonal antibody that neutralizes CCL24 activity and addresses the high unmet need for effective treatments for fibrotic diseases. In preclinical studies, treatment with CM-101 demonstrated strong anti-fibrotic effects, reduced inflammatory injury and significantly improved organ damage. Numerous in-vivo, in-vitro and ex-vivo studies showed that CM-101 demonstrated potent anti-CCL24 effects in disease models of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), systemic sclerosis (SSc), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and metabolic-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).
In five clinical studies to date, CM-101 appears safe and well tolerated in both healthy subjects and in patients who received either intravenous or subcutaneous administrations.
Based on CM-101’s broad, robust biological effects, favorable tolerability profile and unique mechanism of action, Chemomab believes CM-101 may have the potential to interrupt the deleterious pathological processes that drive fibro-inflammatory diseases, with the potential to become a effective anti-fibrotic therapeutic agent with disease-modifying potential.
In a Phase 2a liver fibrosis trial of CM-101 in MASH patients, CM-101 was safe and well-tolerated and treated patients showed consistent and positive improvements across a number of fibro-inflammatory biomarkers. Topline results from the placebo-controlled portion of the Phase 2 SPRING trial of CM-101 in patients with PSC show that CM-101 met the primary study endpoint, demonstrating a favorable safety profile over the 15-week treatment period. CM-101-treated patients with moderate/advanced disease showed improvements on a wide range of disease-related secondary endpoints, including assessments of changes from baseline relative to placebo at Week 15 in liver stiffness; in liver fibrosis biomarkers, including the Enhanced Liver Fibrosis (ELF) score and PRO-C3 levels; in total bilirubin and liver function tests; in pruritus (itch) and in markers of inflammation. Dose-dependent responses were observed for multiple disease-related biomarkers. A consistent pattern of greater improvement on the secondary endpoints was observed in the study arm receiving the higher 20 mg/kg dose of CM-101 and in the prespecified subgroup of PSC patients with moderate/advanced disease. The open label extension portion of the Phase 2 SPRING trial is continuing, with results expected to be reported in early 2025
The CM-101 SSc program has an open U.S. IND and is Phase 2-ready.
CM-101 has Orphan Drug designation in the U.S. and European Union and received Fast Track designation for the treatment of PSC in adults from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Leadership
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Adi Mor, PhD
Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Mor co-founded Chemomab in 2011. She has extensive knowledge and experience in immunology focusing on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and broad experience in designing, promoting and patenting a novel class of monoclonal antibodies to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. Dr. Mor earned her PhD in immunology from Tel Aviv University in the Department of Neurobiochemistry and is the lead author of numerous scientific journal publications in immunology and inflammatory disorders.
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Sigal Fattal, CPA, MBA
Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Fattal joined Chemomab in 2020. She has a track record of over 20 years of experience in leading IPOs, private investments and M&A transactions, as well as establishing and managing effective financial, operational and business activities in a range of industries. Ms. Fattal’s experience includes chief financial officer positions at publicly-traded biotechnology companies, including BiomX and Evogene. She started her career as Director of Finance of ECtel, where she played a key role in growing the company into a large-scale global entity and completing a successful IPO. At BiomX, she structured and managed ongoing corporate activities and set strategic direction, as well as spearheading its merger with a public company. Earlier, Ms. Fattal served as the CFO of Evogene, where she developed and managed the company's corporate structure and led its successful US IPO. She holds a BA degree in Accounting and Economics, with honors, and an MBA, both from Tel Aviv University.
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Matthew Frankel, MD, MBA
Chief Medical Officer, Vice President of Drug Development
Previously, Dr. Frankel was Vice President, Clinical Development & Medical Affairs, Specialty Pharma at Boehringer Ingelheim, developing new drugs for oncology, immunology, pulmonary, and CNS diseases. At Novartis, Dr. Frankel was Vice President & Head, Immunology and Dermatology Medical Unit, where he oversaw medical affairs and clinical development for Cosentyx®, Ilaris®, and Zortress®. At Sandoz, Dr. Frankel led the medical affairs unit supporting the biosimilar, biopharmaceutical and generics businesses. Earlier, Dr. Frankel held clinical development leadership roles across geographies and therapeutic areas at Reata, Fibrogen, Abbott Labs, and Schering Plough. Dr. Frankel received a BA from Vassar College, an MD from the University of California School of Medicine, Los Angeles and an MBA from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is board certified in internal medicine.
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Jack Lawler
Senior Vice President, Global Clinical Development Operations
Mr. Lawler joined Chemomab in January of 2022 with more than 22 years of successful drug development experience. Prior to joining Chemomab, Mr. Lawler served on the Senior Leadership team as Vice President, Clinical Operations and Data Management at Goldfinch Bio. Prior to Goldfinch Bio, Mr. Lawler has held a series of drug development positions at several small and mid-size biotechnology companies and has participated in the drug development for eight approved pharmaceutical products at Teva (Cephalon), Trevena, Shire (Viropharma) and Egalet. Mr. Lawler earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from Rosemont College.
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Ilan Vaknin, PhD, MBA
Vice President, Research & Development
Dr. Vaknin brings Chemomab more than two decades of biotechnology drug discovery and development experience in immunology, antibody development, translational research and bioassay development, including more than a decade in senior science roles at Compugen, Ltd. He most recently served as Director of Preclinical Bioassays, where he oversaw preclinical bioassay development and related activities, while working with computational and validation teams to support discovery of novel drug targets and biomarkers. Prior to Compugen, Dr. Vaknin served as Chief Technology Officer at Active P, where he led the development of orally available therapeutic peptides. Earlier in his career, he served as External Scientific Consultant for the Department of Neurobiology at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. Dr. Vaknin holds a PhD in immunology and a BA in life sciences from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he also received an MBA in finance.
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Revital Aricha, PhD
Vice President, Translational Science
Dr. Revital Aricha joined Chemomab in May 2022 with more than two decades of translational research experience in a wide variety of scientific fields. Previously Dr. Aricha served as Vice President of Research and Development at Brainstorm-Cell Therapeutics. In this role, she was instrumental in drug development, providing scientific support for advanced clinical trials and developing biomarker strategies. Earlier, Dr. Aricha was a senior scientist at the Department of Immunology of the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she specialized in novel treatments for autoimmune diseases. She received a BA and MA degree (magna cum laude) from Bar-Ilan University, where she also received her PhD in Neuroimmunology (summa cum laude). Dr. Aricha completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science and has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers.
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Barbara Lindheim
Consulting Vice President, Strategic Communications, Investor & Public Relations
Barbara Lindheim has provided strategic communications services to the biotechnology and life sciences industries for more than 25 years. Her industry experience spans public relations, strategic positioning, corporate and product communications, crisis management and social media. Her experience in investor relations includes financings, IPOs and investor outreach. Ms. Lindheim is a principal at BLL Partners, LLC and previously held senior communications and strategy roles at Lodo Therapeutics, Orchid BioSciences, Edelman Public Relations, BioCom Partners, Noonan Russo Communications, Glaxo SmithKline, Pfizer and Sanofi. Earlier in her career, Ms. Lindheim developed public policy and advocacy programs for non-profit and government organizations. An Honors graduate of Cornell University, Ms. Lindheim earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School and a master’s degree in public policy from Princeton University.
Board of Directors
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Nissim Darvish, MD, PhD
Chairman of the Board
Nissim Darvish is a General Partner at MeOhr Ventures, a venture capital fund, and serves as a director of several private companies. Previously, he was a Venture Partner at OrbiMed Israel and a member of the boards of directors of 9 Meters Biopharma and Medigus. Earlier, Dr. Darvish was a General Partner managing life sciences investments at Pitango Venture Capital. He was also a founder and CEO of Impulse Dynamics, where he oversaw several financing rounds and $250 million in transactions. Dr. Darvish obtained his MD and PhD in biophysics and physiology from the Technion in Israel and subsequently conducted post-doctoral research at the U.S. National Institutes of Health. He has published over 100 patents and authored more than 20 scientific publications.
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Neil Cohen
Board Director
Neil Cohen served as interim CEO of Anchiano Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ANCN) from October 2020 until its merger with Chemomab in March 2021. He has served as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Castel Partners Ltd. since January 2012. In 1994, he co-founded Israel Seed Partners, a leading venture capital firm, and managed the firm until 2019. Mr. Cohen has invested in and served on the boards of directors of many private technology companies, including a large number which were acquired or completed successful initial public offerings. He is a venture partner at SKY, an Israeli middle-market private equity firm, at Hetz Ventures Management Ltd., an early-stage Israeli venture capital fund, and Shavit Capital. Mr. Cohen was previously the Business Editor of The Jerusalem Post and began his career in the private equity group at the Rothschild Bioscience Unit of N M Rothschild & Sons Limited in London. Mr. Cohen received a B.A. and M.A., with first class honors, from Oxford University.
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Adi Mor, PhD
Board Director
Adi Mor co-founded Chemomab in 2011 and is serving as the company’s CEO since. She has extensive knowledge and experience in immunology focusing on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases and broad experience in designing, promoting and patenting a novel class of monoclonal antibodies to treat inflammatory and fibrotic diseases. Dr. Mor earned her PhD in immunology from Tel Aviv University in the Department of Neurobiochemistry and is the lead author of numerous scientific journal publications in immunology and inflammatory disorders.
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Alan Moses, MD
Board Director
Alan Moses spent 14 years at Novo Nordisk, held multiple roles and rising to the position of Senior Vice President and Global Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Moses was co-founder and co-director of the Clinical Investigator Training Program at Beth Israel Deaconess-Harvard Medical School-MIT and served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and was appointed Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Moses earned his M.D. from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, worked at the National Institutes of Health and completed subspecialty clinical training in Endocrinology at Tufts New England Medical Center.
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Claude Nicaise, MD
Board Director
Claude Nicaise is the owner of Clinical Regulatory Services, a company providing advice on clinical and regulatory matters to biotechnology companies. Dr. Nicaise was a Senior Vice President of Strategic Development and Global Regulatory Affairs at Alexion Pharmaceuticals from 2008 to 2014. From 1983 to 2008, Dr. Nicaise served in various positions of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb, including senior positions such as Vice President of Global Development, Vice-President of Worldwide Regulatory Science and Strategy, and leadership positions in Oncology, Infectious Disease, and Neuroscience development. Dr. Nicaise is a board member in several public and private companies and received his medical degree from the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium
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Jill Quigley
Board Director
Jill M. Quigley brings more than 20 years of biotechnology industry leadership experience encompassing executive management, corporate operations, legal affairs, financings, and board membership. Building on her initial expertise in legal affairs, she broadened her capabilities and experience, ultimately serving as head of operations and chief executive of biotechnology firms developing important innovative products for rare diseases. Ms. Quigley has worked extensively with public companies, established domestic and international operations, helped lead major financing rounds and served as a senior executive at a U.S.-Israeli biopharmaceutical firm. Most recently she was Chief Operating Officer at Passage Bio, a publicly traded gene therapy company. Previously, she served as Chief Executive Officer and General Counsel of Nutrinia, a developer of treatments for rare gastrointestinal diseases. Earlier, Ms. Quigley was Senior Counsel at NPS Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotechnology company that was acquired by Shire; as Corporate Counsel for Pharmasset, a publicly traded biotechnology firm acquired by Gilead Sciences; and as Assistant Corporate Counsel for publicly traded Integra Life Sciences. Earlier in her career she was an Associate with the law firm of Dechert LLP. Ms. Quigley is a director of publicly traded Terns Pharmaceuticals, where she is Chair of the Audit Committee. She holds a BA degree from American University and a JD from Rutgers School of Law.
Scientific Advisory Board
Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis and Non-Alcoholic SteatoHepatitis
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Scott L. Friedman, MD
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, NY, USA
Prof. Friedman is Chief of Liver Diseases and Dean of Therapeutic Discovery at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His pioneering hepatic fibrosis research has been supported by the NIH since 1986 and his mentorship of over 80 trainees have helped fibrosis emerge as a new hepatology therapeutic specialty with exciting potential. Prof.. Friedman was a Senior Fulbright Scholar at the Weizmann Institute, Israel, in 1995 and President of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) in 2009. He received the International Hans Popper Prize, the EASL International Recognition Award, the AASLD Distinguished Achievement Award and the American Liver Foundation Distinguished Award. Prof. Friedman is a Fellow of the AASLD, AGA, ACP and AAAS.
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Massimo Pinzani, MD, PhD, FRCP, FAASLD
University College London, London, UK
Prof. Massimo Pinzani is Professor of Medicine at University College London (UCL), London, United Kingdom. He is a clinical and translational hepatologist, Sheila Sherlock Chair of Hepatology and Director of the UCL Institute for Liver and Digestive Health, Division of Medicine. He is one of the pioneers in the research dedicated to cellular and molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis and relative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. His current research is centered on regenerative medicine, in particularon the development of extracellular matrix scaffolds of the liver, pancreas and small intestine for cell bioengineering and 3D disease modelling. Professor Pinzani’s research has been presented in more than 200 original peer-reviewed publications. He has served in the governing and scientific boards of major international organizations in hepatology and gastroenterology, and as Editor in Chief and Associate Editor of top peer reviewed international journals in gastroenterology and hepatology. He is Educational Councilor and member of the governing board of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL). He is currently Chairman and Co-founder of Engitix Ltd., a UCL spin-off company dedicated to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with particular focus on the liver and digestive tract.
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Arun Sanyal, MD
The Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
Prof. Arun Sanyal, is a Professor of Medicine, Physiology and Molecular Pathology in the Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine. Dr. Sanyal is Special Council Board Member of NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) and has been a past President of the AASLD (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases). He has chaired committees at the NIDDK NASH Clinical Research Network and the NIH Hepatobiliary Study Section. Prof. Sanyal was instrumental in establishing the international Liver Forum for NASH, and he continues to serve as a Chair of this organization, comprising industry, academia and regulatory bodies from the USA and EU. Prof. Sanyal also leads several major drug trials for the treatment of NASH. He has published over 300 papers in leading medical journals and periodicals throughout his career.
Systemic Sclerosis
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Marco Matucci-Cerinic, MD, PhD, FRCP, FBSRhon
University of Florence, Florence, Italy
Prof. Marco Matucci-Cerinic is Professor of Rheumatology and Medicine at the Department of Musculoskeletal Medicine and Director of the Rheumatology Department (AVC) and of the Division of Rheumatology at the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Careggi (AOUC) in Florence, Italy. In addition, Prof. Matucci-Cerinic is Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Florence, Italy. He has published more than 600 peer-reviewed manuscripts broadly covering the field of rheumatology, particularly on the pathogenesis, clinical features and treatment of scleroderma, spondyloarthritis and osteoarthritis. He has also served on various international and national committees. Prof. Matucci-Cerinic has served as the EULAR General Secretary and as Chairman of the EULAR Scleroderma Trial and Research Group (EUSTAR). He is currently Chairman of the World Scleroderma Foundation and Editor in Chief of the Journal of Scleroderma & Related Diseases. He is also Associate Editor of Arthritis Research & Therapy and Clinical & Experimental Rheumatology, past Associate Editor and Co-Editor of Rheumatology. He serves on the boards of Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Rheumatology, Journal of Rheumatology, Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology and other rheumatology journals.
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Dinesh Khanna, MD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Prof. Khanna is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the University of Michigan (UM) Scleroderma Program. UM Scleroderma Program offers a tertiary referral center for patients with scleroderma and related conditions. The program sees approximately 1,200-1,500 unique patient visits on an annual basis and has 3 full-time faculty members and 5 coordinators. Prof. Khanna has expertise in developing and validating outcome measures for clinical trials and led the development of the Combined Response Index in Systemic Sclerosis (an NIH/NIAMS-funded effort), which is now included as primary, secondary and exploratory measures in ongoing trials. Dr. Khanna’s research has focused on the development of outcome measures and refinement of trial design in scleroderma. Based on his expertise in trial design and outcome measures, he co-led the EULAR Points to Consider recommendations for trial design in SSc and will chair a project with the NIH and his FDA colleagues to develop a white paper for clinical trials in SSc.
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Francesco Del Galdo, MD, PhD
University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
Prof. Francesco Del Galdo is an Associate Professor in the Head of Scleroderma Program at the Leeds Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine. In the Scleroderma Center of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, USA, he pioneered the application of Optical Coherence Tomography, MRI and serum biomarkers of overall fibrosis as outcome measures of activity and early diagnosis in Scleroderma. He has over a decade of experience in managing rheumatological conditions including systemic sclerosis, and he runs a prestigious research program within the Leeds Institute on personalized medicine for patients at risk of rheumatic diseases. As an internationally renowned leader in systemic sclerosis, Prof. Del Galdo is the author of more than 100 scientific journal publications and books.
Scientific Founder
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Jacob George, MD
Director of the Heart Center, Kaplan Medical Center; Affiliated to the Hebrew University, Israel
Prof. Jacob George founded Chemomab in 2011 based on more than 20 years of prior research in inflammation, cardiovascular medicine and autoimmune diseases. He serves as a full Professor of Cardiology in the School of Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is the current director of the Heart Center at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot, Israel. Prof. George has published more than 400 papers and has written and edited several books. Prof. George serves on the editorial board of fifteen scientific journals and his research mainly centers on the role of the immune system in various inflammatory disorders. Prof. George serves as an advisor to numerous pharmaceuticals companies and has been engaged in promoting a series of pharmaceutical products from discovery into clinical trials. He is the co-founder and previous CSO of VBL therapeutics and a founder of Cognyxx pharmaceuticals.