Dr. Avanzi is an experienced physician-scientist and hematologist/oncologist with over fifteen years of clinical experience, including over ten years of experience advancing cellular therapies through early and late-stage of development. In his new role, Dr. Avanzi will be responsible for leading and expanding Shoreline’s clinical portfolio and will serve as a key member of its Executive team.
“We are extremely pleased that Mauro is joining Shoreline at such a pivotal time in the growth of our company. Mauro is a recognized immuno-oncology expert with a wealth of expertise in leading cross-functional clinical teams that have advanced important cellular therapies through all stages of development, including commercial approval in global markets,” said Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., Shoreline’s Chairman and CEO. “Mauro’s unique background and proven track record in cell therapy will strengthen our capabilities as we bring next-generation immunotherapies to patients with cancer.”
Prior to joining Shoreline, Dr. Avanzi served as Vice President, Clinical Development at Neogene Therapeutics (acquired by AstraZeneca), where he was responsible for leading clinical studies with TCR T cells targeting neoantigens. Prior to Neogene, Dr. Avanzi held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Kite Pharma (acquired by Gilead), where he supported multiple clinical programs through all stages of development. Dr. Avanzi has extensive clinical development experience in both the US and EU, and has played an integral role in multipe IND/CTA and sBLA filings, including the commercial approval of Yescarta for indolent NHL. Dr. Avanzi earned his M.D. at Campinas Medical School (Puc) in Brazil and completed an internal medicine residency and hematology/oncology fellowship at the São Paulo University (USP). He completed his Ph.D. research at the New York Blood Center/Santa Casa Medical School and a post-doctoral fellowship focusing on CAR-T cells at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Avanzi is an author of multiple peer-reviewed publications on adoptive cellular therapies.
Dr. Avanzi commented, “I have long admired Shoreline’s focus and leadership position in cell therapy and I am very excited about the clinical potential of the Shoreline pipeline. I believe that Shoreline has the strongest set of tools to win the war on cancer, including its industry-leading iPSC derived iNK and iMAC platforms and the recent addition of key gene-editing and manufacturing technologies. The company’s deep expertise in iPSC differentiation, immune cell biology, and gene-editing make this an opportunity that I find very compelling, and I look forward to building a meaningful clinical portfolio that will deliver therapeutic benefit to patients.”
Source: Shoreline Biosciences
