Ankyra Therapeutics Appoints Sailaja Battula as Chief Scientific Officer to Lead Immuno-Oncology Pipeline
核心洞察
Ankyra Therapeutics (搜索) has appointed Sailaja Battula, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer, bringing over a decade of experience in immuno-oncology and drug discovery to the clinical-stage biotechnology company.
Dr. Battula previously held leadership roles at Immuneering Corporation and Bicycle Therapeutics, where she led pioneering work on bicyclic peptides as T cell agonists and tumor-targeting bispecifics.
The appointment comes as Ankyra advances its lead candidate Tolododekin alfa (搜索) (ANK-101), an anchored drug conjugate that delivers IL-12 (搜索) locally to tumors while avoiding systemic toxicity.
Ankyra Therapeutics (搜索), a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering anchored drug conjugate technology, announced the appointment of Sailaja Battula, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Battula brings more than a decade of scientific and leadership experience in immuno-oncology, drug discovery, inflammation, and autoimmunity to guide the company's emerging pipeline of immune targets.
"We are pleased to have Dr. Battula leading our scientific efforts and guiding our emerging pipeline of immune targets," said Howard Kaufman, MD, chief executive officer at Ankyra Therapeutics (搜索). "Sailaja's track record of advancing immuno-oncology programs and ability to build high-performing teams bring relevant experience to our growing team."
Leadership Experience in Immuno-Oncology
Dr. Battula has held leadership roles at several biotechnology companies, most recently serving as Director of Immuno-Oncology at Immuneering Corporation. Previously, she was Associate Director and Program Lead in Immuno-Oncology at Bicycle Therapeutics, where she led pioneering work on bicyclic peptides as T cell agonists, tumor-targeting bispecifics, and innate immune activators. Earlier in her career, she contributed to immunology and inflammation programs at Forma Therapeutics and Applied Immunology.
Dr. Battula received her PhD in Pharmacology from New York Medical College and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California San Francisco in the laboratories of Dr. Courtney Broaddus and Dr. Lisa Coussens. She has a proven track record of advancing programs from early discovery through late-stage development, building high-performing teams, and forging strategic collaborations with key opinion leaders, academic institutions, and industry partners.
"At this pivotal stage of the company, I'm excited to step into the role of CSO and I look forward to shaping Ankyra's scientific strategy and expansion of the pipeline to treat cancer and other serious illnesses," said Dr. Battula.
Anchored Drug Conjugate Technology Platform
Ankyra has developed a highly differentiated technology platform that expands the therapeutic window of therapeutic drugs by forming a stable depot after local administration. This approach leads to prolonged immune activation and potent local and systemic immunity with reduced systemic toxicity.
The company's lead candidate, Tolododekin alfa (搜索) (ANK-101), exemplifies this approach as an anchored drug conjugate composed of interleukin-12 (IL-12 (搜索)) linked to aluminum hydroxide. ANK-101 enables local delivery of functional IL-12 to the tumor microenvironment where it remains biologically active for several weeks with transient exposure to the systemic circulation, thereby avoiding systemic toxicity.
Clinical Development Progress
Treatment with ANK-101 in animal models has been associated with immune activation and rapid tumor regression. The drug is being evaluated for the treatment of advanced solid tumors alone and in combination with anti-PD-1 (搜索) agents.
The first-in-human clinical trial of ANK-101 (NCT06171750) consists of monotherapy dose escalation, dose expansion in combination with cemiplimab, and dose optimization cohorts. Additionally, the ANK-101-004 clinical trial (NCT07027514) will focus on non-mutated metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Ankyra Therapeutics (搜索) is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and continues to advance its anchored drug conjugate platform for cancer and other diseases.