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IMUNON is a fully integrated, clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments that harness the body’s natural mechanisms to generate safe, effective and durable responses across a broad array of human diseases, constituting a differentiating approach from conventional therapies. This approach has led to the development of the TheraPlas and PLACCINE technology platforms.
IMUNON has a Phase II program (IMNN-001) under evaluation for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer that is developed using our TheraPlas modality for immunotherapies and other anti-cancer nucleic acid-based therapies. We have also demonstrated preclinical proof of concept in rodent and non-human primate (NHP) models for our PLACCINE modality for the development of nucleic acid vaccines for infectious diseases and cancer and will be filing our first IND (for IMNN-101) with this platform in 2023.
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Dr. Le Goff was appointed President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Imunon and elected to the Board of Directors on July 18, 2022. Dr. Le Goff brings decades of global healthcare leadership experience to the Company across a range of therapeutic areas including oncology, vaccines, immunology, CNS and cardio-metabolism. She brings a wealth of experience in developing and launching successful drugs from her tenure at both large, pharmaceutical companies and small, innovative biotech companies. Prior to her Imunon appointment, Dr. Corinne Le Goff most recently served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Moderna, and was responsible for developing the global presence and capabilities necessary to ensure the global distribution of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. She also led the development of the mRNA platform long-term commercial strategy. Dr. Le Goff joined Moderna from Amgen, where she served as President of the U.S. Business, driving the growth strategy with increased contributions from Repatha® and Aimovig®. During her nearly 6-year tenure at Amgen, she also served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Strategy & Commercial Innovation and as President of the Europe Region overseeing 48 markets. Dr. Le Goff was actively engaged with the policy community and advocates for innovative, high-quality and affordable healthcare. She represented Amgen as a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Le Goff held a number of senior international roles at Roche, including President of Roche France, a major affiliate of the Roche Group, and Global Product Strategy Head of Neuroscience & Rare Diseases. Early in her career, Dr. Le Goff spent 11 years in various leadership roles at Sanofi and Pfizer in the United States.Dr. Le Goff earned a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Rene Descartes University in Paris and an MBA from Sorbonne University and INSEAD. She also holds qualifications from Northwestern University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received the distinction of being named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2014.
Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer
Khursheed Anwer, PhD, MBA, assumed the title of Executive Vice President and Chief Science Officer, upon Imunon’s June 2014 acquisition of EGEN, Inc., where he was President and Chief Science Officer, a position he held since 2009. He joined EGEN, Inc. in July, 2002, as Vice President of Research and Development, and directed the company’s clinical and research and development functions throughout his tenure at EGEN, Inc. Dr. Anwer has a PhD in Physiology/Pharmacology from Ohio University and received postdoctoral training from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Before joining EGEN, Inc., Dr. Anwer was Director of Pre-Clinical Development at Valentis, Inc. From 1993 to 1999, he served in several positions at GeneMedicine, Inc., where he led several research projects in the area of nonviral gene therapy. He has authored more than 40 publications in the area of nonviral gene therapy, resulting from his active career in research and development. Dr. Anwer has served as an adjunct faculty member in the Biology Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a board member of the University of Alabama Business School, STEP.
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
Executive Chairman and Director since July 2022
Michael H. Tardugno’s career has been focused exclusively in healthcare, with 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Mr. Tardugno was appointed Executive Chairman of Imunon, Inc. Board of Directors on July 19, 2022. Mr. Tardugno served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Imunon from January 3, 2007 to July 18, 2022. He was elected to the Board of Directors on January 22, 2007. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Tardugno served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mylan Technologies Inc., a subsidiary of Mylan Laboratories, a transdermal drug company. He was a founding member of management of Songbird Hearing, Inc., a privately held startup, and held the positions of Senior Vice President of Technical Operations at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Senior Vice President of Technology Development and Manufacturing for Bausch & Lomb. Mr. Tardugno began his career in 1977 with Abbott Laboratories, where he held positions in pharmaceutical operations. Mr. Tardugno holds a BS in Biology from St. Bonaventure University and completed the Harvard Business School executive program.
President, Chief Executive Officer and Director
Dr. Le Goff was appointed President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Imunon and elected to the Board of Directors on July 18, 2022. Dr. Le Goff brings decades of global healthcare leadership experience to the Company across a range of therapeutic areas including oncology, vaccines, immunology, CNS and cardio-metabolism. She brings a wealth of experience in developing and launching successful drugs from her tenure at both large, pharmaceutical companies and small, innovative biotech companies. Prior to her Imunon appointment, Dr. Corinne Le Goff most recently served as the Chief Commercial Officer of Moderna, and was responsible for developing the global presence and capabilities necessary to ensure the global distribution of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine. She also led the development of the mRNA platform long-term commercial strategy. Dr. Le Goff joined Moderna from Amgen, where she served as President of the U.S. Business, driving the growth strategy with increased contributions from Repatha® and Aimovig®. During her nearly 6-year tenure at Amgen, she also served as Senior Vice President of Global Product Strategy & Commercial Innovation and as President of the Europe Region overseeing 48 markets. Dr. Le Goff was actively engaged with the policy community and advocates for innovative, high-quality and affordable healthcare. She represented Amgen as a member of the Healthcare Leadership Council. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Le Goff held a number of senior international roles at Roche, including President of Roche France, a major affiliate of the Roche Group, and Global Product Strategy Head of Neuroscience & Rare Diseases. Early in her career, Dr. Le Goff spent 11 years in various leadership roles at Sanofi and Pfizer in the United States. Dr. Le Goff earned a Doctorate in Pharmacy from Rene Descartes University in Paris and an MBA from Sorbonne University and INSEAD. She also holds qualifications from Northwestern University and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She received the distinction of being named a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2014.
Director since March 2007
Augustine Chow, MSc, PhD, was appointed to the Board of Directors in March 2007. Dr. Chow is the Chairman of Harmony Asset Management Limited in Hong Kong as well as a Director of Medifocus Inc. (TSX Venture: MFS). From 1996-2015, Dr. Chow was the Chief Executive Officer of Harmony Asset Limited, a Hong Kong listed investment company. Between 2008 and 2016 he served as Executive Director of Kaisun Energy Group Limited. From 1990 to 1998, Dr. Chow was the Chief Executive Officer of Allied Group of Companies based in Hong Kong which included a number of publicly-listed companies spanning various industries. Prior to this, Dr. Chow held a senior position with Brunswick Corporation and Outboard Marine Corporation and was responsible for all business activities in South East Asia and China. Dr. Chow has extensive experience in managing publicly-listed companies that are involved in manufacturing, marketing and financial services. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions. Dr. Chow’s qualifications include a number of Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees. Among these are a MSc from London Business School, a PhD from the University of South Australia, and an Engineering Doctorate and PhD on Biology from City University of Hong Kong.
Director since July 2011
Frederick J. Fritz was appointed to the Board of Directors in July 2011. He is the CEO and Founder of NeuroDx, a development-stage diagnostic device company focused on the neurosurgery market. Mr. Fritz joined NeuroDx from Valeo Medical, a biotech company he founded in 2003, to develop the world’s first noninvasive diagnostic test for endometriosis. Prior to that, Mr. Fritz was President and CEO of Songbird Hearing, a medical device company spin-off of Sarnoff Corp. Mr. Fritz began his career in marketing management and new product development. He joined Schering Plough’s Wesley Jessen in 1985 as Vice President, Marketing and Sales. He was promoted to general manager of Schering’s OTC pharmaceutical business in 1988 and of the podiatric products business in 1990. Additionally, Mr. Fritz was President of Coleman North America from 1995-1997. He holds an Engineering degree from the University of Illinois, from which he was graduated Summa Cum Laude, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Director since December 2015
Donald Braun, PhD, joined Imunon in 2015 and brings over 30 years of research expertise in oncology, with a focus on immunotherapy and effectiveness and impact of chemotherapy protocols on various cancers and tumor types. Prior to his retirement in 2016 Dr. Braun served as Vice President Translational Research and Chief Science Officer at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Prior to the CTCA, he was the Scientific Director of the Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine and Immunology at Rush Medical College in Chicago, and the Administrative Director of the Cancer Institute and a Professor of Surgery with tenure at the Medical College of Ohio. Dr. Braun has been appointed to and served on more then a dozen federal government and public advisory committees on oncology and immunology. He received his PhD in Immunology and Microbiology from the University of Illinois at the Medical Center in Chicago.
Director since June 2021
Stacy Lindborg, PhD, was appointed to the Board of Directors in June 2021. Dr. Lindborg is EVP and Chief Development Officer at Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics. A member Brainstorm’s Executive Leadership Team, she is accountable for driving the creation of clinical development strategies from first-in-human trials through registration –framing development paths and ensuring evidence is generated as required by key constituents (scientific community, regulatory, commercial/payer). She interacts frequently with Wall Street investors, represents the company in the scientific community as well as the media and plays an active role as Brainstorm seeks business partnerships. She has core competencies in Research & Development, Executive Management, and Strategy Development. At Eli Lilly and Company Dr. Lindborg was Head of R&D strategy, responsible for characterizing the productivity of the portfolio and driving key R&D strategy projects including the annual R&D Long-Range Plan. In this role she created seminal insights into R&D productivity by connecting individual drug program-based development decisions to portfolio risk practices, driving fundamental R&D decisions to increase the number of drug launches. Stacy was Leader of Zyprexa Product Management; responsible for R&D, Commercial, and Manufacturing plans. She was accountable for driving market share through product differentiation, Global Registration, and Launching of an injectable form of Zyprexa, working through Manufacturing Inspections and 483 citations. Zyprexa had peak sales of $4.7b. Dr. Lindborg has a Ph.D., in Statistics from Baylor University 1996, an M.A., Statistics, Baylor University 1993 and a B.A., Psychology, Math Minor, Baylor University 1992.
Director since June 2021
Christine Pellizzari, JD, was appointed to the Board of Directors in June 2021. Ms. Pellizzari is Chief Legal Officer of Science 37, a developer of a leading decentralized clinical trial operating system where she has global responsibility for both legal and quality. Ms. Pellizzari brings more than 20 years of leadership in the global pharmaceutical industry to Celsion. Immediately prior to joining Science 37, Ms. Pellizzari was Chief Legal Officer of Insmed Incorporated (NASDAQ: INSM), a global biopharmaceutical company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients with serious and rare diseases. At Insmed Ms. Pellizzari had global responsibility for legal and government affairs including corporate governance, regulatory compliance, contracting, alliance management, clinical trial oversight, labor and employment, litigation management and intellectual property strategy and portfolio management. Ms. Pellizzari received a J.D. from the University of Colorado School of Law and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts (Amherst). She is a member of Executive Women in Bio, Women Corporate Directors, National Association of Corporate Directors, Association of Corporate Counsel, Society for Corporate Governance and National Association of Stock Plan Professionals.
Director since October 2022
Mr. Dentzer has been President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Curis, Inc. since September 2018. From March 2018 to September 2018, Mr. Dentzer served as Curis’ Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. From March 2016 to March 2018, Mr. Dentzer served as Curis’ Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Dentzer has also held the positions of secretary and treasurer from March 2016 to March 2019. Prior to joining Curis, Mr. Dentzer served as Chief Financial Officer of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, from December 2013 to December 2015. Prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Valeritas, Inc., a medical technology company, from March 2010 to December 2013. Prior to joining Valeritas, Inc., he was the Chief Financial Officer of Amicus Therapeutics, Inc. a biotechnology company, from October 2006 to October 2009. In prior positions, he spent six years as Corporate Controller of Biogen Inc., a biotechnology company, and six years in various senior financial roles at E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, a chemical, petroleum and biotechnology company, in the U.S. and Asia.