CytomX Therapeutics Appoints Rachael Lester as Chief Business Officer to Advance PROBODY Platform
Key Insights
CytomX Therapeutics has appointed Rachael Lester as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer to lead strategy and business development functions for the company's masked biologics platform.
Lester brings over two decades of experience in biopharmaceutical business development, including previous roles at Replicate Bioscience (search), Harpoon Therapeutics, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals.
The appointment comes as CytomX advances its clinical pipeline including CX-2051 for colorectal cancer (search) and CX-801 for melanoma (search), both utilizing the company's PROBODY therapeutic platform.
CytomX Therapeutics, a clinical-stage oncology biopharmaceutical company, announced the appointment of Rachael Lester as Senior Vice President and Chief Business Officer on October 20, 2025. The strategic hire positions the company to expand partnerships and advance its PROBODY platform of masked, conditionally activated biologics designed for tumor microenvironment localization.
Leadership Strengthening at Critical Juncture
Sean McCarthy, president, CEO and chairman of CytomX Therapeutics, emphasized the timing of Lester's appointment: "Rachael brings a wealth of experience in strategic planning and business development across the biopharmaceutical industry and joins CytomX at a time when our platform and pipeline are well positioned to deliver meaningful advances in the treatment of many cancers."
McCarthy highlighted Lester's role in expanding the company's integrated business model: "Rachael's expertise and leadership in delivering strategic, value-enhancing partnerships will be pivotal as we continue to prosecute our integrated business model and expand the reach of our PROBODY platform."
Extensive Industry Experience
Lester brings over two decades of leadership experience across corporate strategy, business development, and product portfolio planning in the life sciences sector. Most recently serving as Chief Business Officer at Replicate Bioscience (search), she led corporate strategy, business development, and capital formation, playing a key role in securing financing and multiple partnerships during her tenure.
Prior to Replicate, Lester served as SVP of Business Development and Corporate Strategy at Harpoon Therapeutics, a T-cell engager platform company later acquired by Merck (search). At Harpoon, she established and strengthened business development strategy through major partnerships with AbbVie (search) and Roche.
Her career also includes senior roles at Bruin Biometrics and Onyx Pharmaceuticals (now an Amgen subsidiary), as well as consulting positions at Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton's life sciences practices, where she advised on multi-billion-dollar M&A transactions and strategic growth initiatives.
Clinical Pipeline Focus
Lester expressed enthusiasm about CytomX's clinical assets, stating: "CytomX's lead clinical assets, CX-2051 and CX-801, are designed to address areas of high unmet medical need including colorectal cancer (search) and melanoma (search) and have broad potential across many cancer (search) types."
CX-2051 ADC Platform
CX-2051 represents a masked, conditionally activated antibody-drug conjugate directed toward epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM (search)), armed with a topoisomerase-1 (search) inhibitor payload. The therapeutic candidate has potential applicability across multiple EpCAM-expressing epithelial cancers, including colorectal cancer (search), and was discovered through collaboration with ImmunoGen.
CX-801 Cytokine Therapy
CX-801 is a masked interferon alpha-2b PROBODY cytokine with broad potential applicability in both traditionally immuno-oncology sensitive and insensitive (cold) tumors, expanding treatment options across diverse cancer (search) types.
Multi-Modal Technology Platform
CytomX's PROBODY therapeutic platform has generated therapeutic candidates across multiple treatment modalities, including antibody-drug conjugates, T-cell engagers, and immune modulators such as cytokines. The company's vision centers on creating safer, more effective cancer (search) therapies through conditionally activated treatments localized to the tumor microenvironment.
The company has established strategic collaborations with multiple oncology leaders, including Amgen, Astellas, Bristol Myers Squibb (search), Regeneron, and Moderna, positioning the platform for broad therapeutic applications across cancer (search) treatment paradigms.