NanoSyrinx appoints R&D industry leader Dr Marie McAvoy as Chief Scientific Officer
NanoSyrinx, a biotech company using synthetic biology approaches to develop a new modality for the targeted intracellular delivery of biologic therapeutics, has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Dr Marie McAvoy as its Chief Scientific Officer.
Dr McAvoy joins NanoSyrinx from GSK where she was Senior Director in the Oncology Cell Therapy Research Unit. She brings more than 20 years of drug discovery experience in biotech and large pharma companies, having worked on vaccines, biopharmaceuticals and cell and gene therapies, and led programmes from target identification to phase 2b clinical trials.
NanoSyrinx is the first company to engineer protein ‘nanosyringes’ as a cell-selective non-viral peptide and protein delivery system. This technology provides an important solution by unlocking previously inaccessible intracellular targets in order to improve efficacy and minimise potential side effects of both existing and new treatments. Following the company’s recent, oversubscribed, £6.2m seed financing round, NanoSyrinx is focused on delivering a pipeline of proof of concept and preclinical development candidates, in both ex vivo and in vivo therapeutic and cell and gene editing applications. Dr McAvoy’s extensive technical expertise and management experience will underpin these efforts.
Dr Marie McAvoy said: “I’m delighted to be joining the NanoSyrinx team and leading their candidate discovery programme. NanoSyrinx’s novel method for intracellular therapeutic delivery will significantly improve the efficacy of new drugs and this important mission has my full support. This is a critical time for the company to strengthen its pipeline and I’m excited to be part of it.”
Dr Joe Healey, Chief Executive Officer at NanoSyrinx, said: “We are over the moon that Dr Marie McAvoy is joining us, and this is certainly a very exciting time for NanoSyrinx. With Marie’s expertise, we can move ahead with the drug-discovery pipeline for our nanosyringes and accelerate our progress towards their clinical application.”