SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., May 2, 2024 – Vicinitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary targeted protein stabilization platform to develop novel therapeutics for cancer and genetic disorders, today announced the appointment of Adam Hughes, Ph.D., as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Hughes previously served as VP of Medicinal Chemistry at Vicinitas.
“We continue to make notable progress advancing our proprietary Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimera, or DUBTAC, platform, which is designed to restore aberrantly degraded proteins and deliver new therapeutic options to patients with cancer and genetic disorders,” said Christian Hofmann, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Vicinitas Therapeutics. “Adam has been an integral part of building the platform since the founding of the company, and I’m thrilled to now have him at the helm of our scientific organization as Chief Scientific Officer. His extensive experience discovering heterobifunctional molecules and advancing platform-derived clinical candidates coupled with his demonstrated leadership skills, will be critical as we continue to build a discovery pipeline of differentiated therapeutics.”
Dr. Hughes commented, “The onset and progression of many diseases, including cancer and monogenic diseases, are often caused by specific proteins that are abnormally degraded, thus preventing normal protein function. To date, many of these aberrantly degraded proteins have been intractable to drug discovery efforts. By leveraging our DUBTAC platform, we have a unique opportunity to develop small molecule drugs that can stabilize these proteins to prevent degradation and restore normal protein function. I’m very excited to continue contributing to Vicinitas’ mission, now as CSO, as we work to drug the undruggable and hopefully bring significant therapeutic benefits to patients.”
With over 23 years of experience in small molecule drug discovery, Dr. Hughes has been directly responsible for leading multiple preclinical research programs from inception to clinical candidate nomination, as well as supporting IND-enabling studies and filings. Prior to joining Vicinitas, Dr. Hughes served as Head of Chemistry at Terray Therapeutics and Executive Director of Medicinal Chemistry at Theravance Biopharma. At Terray, Dr. Hughes led the Chemistry team, prioritizing and enabling new reactions for the company’s bead-based DNA-encoded-library platform, optimizing library hit syntheses and building Medicinal Chemistry capabilities. In addition, he was part of the management team, implementing drug discovery initiatives and guiding the platform’s application towards lead optimization.
At Theravance Biopharma, Dr. Hughes directed new discoveries and nominations of 11 clinical candidates across a wide range of biological targets and therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs. He was also responsible for leading an Exploratory Science R&D effort to identify and nominate new projects for Theravance’s portfolio.
Dr. Hughes holds his BSc in Chemistry (Henry Forth Prize) from the University of Nottingham and continued there to complete his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry under the guidance of Professor Nigel Simpkins. He completed his academic training after winning one of four Glaxo Wellcome Fellowships, conducting Post-Doctoral Research under the guidance of Professor Barry Trost at Stanford University. He is an author on over 50 publications and patents.
South San Francisco–May 9, 2023–Vicinitas Therapeutics, a biotechnology company advancing a proprietary targeted protein stabilization platform to develop novel therapeutics in cancer and genetic disorders, today announced that Christian Hofmann, Ph.D., has been appointed as the company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the board of directors.
“Since the launch of Vicinitas less than a year ago, we have made important progress in advancing our proprietary Deubiquitinase Targeting Chimera (DUBTAC) platform, which is designed to offer therapeutic benefit to patients with cancer and genetic disorders through the restoration of aberrantly degraded proteins that cause disease,” said Daniel K. Nomura, Ph.D., founder of Vicinitas Therapeutics and Professor of Chemical Biology in the Departments of Chemistry, Molecular and Cell Biology, and Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology at the University of California, Berkeley. “We are thrilled to appoint a CEO with the pedigree and deep expertise of Christian Hofmann, and I look forward to closely collaborating with him to advance this important new approach for a number of underserved diseases.”
Dr. Hofmann brings to Vicinitas more than two decades of biopharma business and portfolio planning experience across all stages of development. Dr. Hofmann joins Vicinitas from Lycia Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on extracellular protein degradation, where he served as Chief Business Officer. There, he was responsible for company strategy, business development, portfolio and business operations. He also negotiated the company’s multitarget partnership with Eli Lilly and Company. Prior to Lycia, Dr. Hofmann was a member of the partnering group at Roche/Genentech, where he negotiated several licensing and collaboration agreements. Prior to Genentech, he held business development and portfolio management positions of increasing responsibility at several startups and Roche Diagnostics. Dr. Hofmann started his business career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in the pharmaceuticals and medical device practice, both in Europe and the U.S. Dr. Hofmann holds a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry and applied physics from Yale University.
“I am excited to join Vicinitas at the ground floor to bring forward this innovative protein stabilization technology developed in Dr. Nomura’s lab at UC Berkeley,” said Dr. Hofmann. “I believe that Vicinitas represents an enormous opportunity to help patients by targeting proteins previously considered undruggable, and I look forward to working alongside the company’s world class team.”