Wrocław, 1 March 2021 – the scientific team of the Swiss-Polish biopharmaceutical company Captor Therapeutics S.A. will be strengthened by Paweł Dobrzański, PhD – an international expert in molecular biology and drug development for cancer and immune diseases. He will become Director of the Biology Department and will be responsible for co-creating the company’s scientific strategy, supervision and conceptual support over research and development projects.

Paweł Dobrzański, PhD, is a molecular biologist and pharmacologist with over 30 years’ experience in drug development, acquired in a number of leading pharma and biotech companies in the USA, where he held senior leadership positions. Dobrzański specialises in the development of novel therapies in oncology, immunology and fibrotic diseases. He has a deep understanding of all pre-clinical stages of drug development, with specific expertise in animal models of cancer and other diseases. Dobrzański also has extensive experience in designing and conducting early stages of clinical trials and undertaking translational research. He received his PhD in the field of genetics and molecular biology from the University of Cologne and carried out his post-doctoral internship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), Heidelberg, and the Bristol Myers Squibb Research Center (BBRC), USA. In 1994, he joined the biopharmaceutical company Cephalon Inc. (USA) at which he was one of the founders of the Oncology Department, where for many years he led research groups developing new cancer therapies. A number of programmes conducted by Dobrzański resulted in the development of compounds that have reached the clinical phase. From 2011, he continued research and development in oncology and immunology at Teva Pharmaceuticals as the Director of the Oncology Department. From 2016 to 2020, Dobrzański was associated with OncoArendi Therapeutics S.A. in Warsaw, where he worked as Scientific Director and Head of the Biology Department, and was responsible for the company’s scientific and clinical strategy, and overall biological research.

 

‘We are genuinely pleased and honoured that our team will be strengthened by a person with such extensive experience in drug development, outstanding achievements and recognition in the scientific world. I have repeatedly emphasised that the greatest asset of Captor Therapeutics is our excellent team, equipped with knowledge and experience, for whom working in the industry is a passion. I believe that Paweł Dobrzański’s experience, in terms of both conducting research and managing the research team, will perfectly complement and support the further development of our competences. From our point of view, Paweł's view on the biological aspects of our projects will be particularly valuable. His experience in many therapeutic areas, especially oncology, autoimmune diseases and nervous system diseases, will certainly be reflected in our work. Paweł was also involved in drug development in Poland during his work at OncoArendi, where he developed the strategy and supervised work on the OATD-01 and OATD-02 projects. Last year, the OATD-01 molecule completed the first stage of clinical trials and its rights were purchased by the Belgian company, Galapagos, which was the largest partnering agreement in the history of Polish biotechnology’, says Michał Walczak, Member of the Management Board and a Shareholder at Captor Therapeutics S.A.

 

‘Captor Therapeutics is one of the few companies in the world to be working on innovative TPD or targeted protein degradation technology. This innovative approach to drug development has the potential to revolutionise the pharmaceutical sector. Targeted protein degradation technology has opened up new treatment options for diseases for which there is currently no treatment or the therapies available are not fully effective. As a scientist developing new therapies, I think that the possibility of using this breakthrough technology to address unmet medical needs and help patients is a unique opportunity and a challenge. At the same time, as head of the biology team, I intend to leverage the synergy of experience and expertise across the entire team to develop new drug candidates. It will also be an important opportunity to work at a laboratory in Basel, Switzerland, which is at the heart of the pharma and biotech world’, says Paweł Dobrzański, PhD.

 

See the full press release: here

 

More information on Captor Therapeutics is available at: http://www.captortherapeutics.com

LinkedIn: @CaptorTherapeutics

Twitter: @CaptorTherapeu1

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Media contact:

Michał Wierzchowski, cc group

tel. +48 531 613 067, e-mail: mich2pob4hral.wierzchowski@ccgroup.pl