Established in 2017, Elpis is a pre-clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. Our vision is to become a leading biotech company by developing innovative biological and cellular therapeutics for difficult-to-treat cancers. We have built two core technology platforms: the mADsTM platform to discover fully human therapeutic antibodies and the mSCAFoldTM platform to develop novel mechanism-driven protein therapeutics. Elpis is advancing a rich pipeline composed of immuno-modulators, dual targeting tandem CAR-Ts and novel bispecific antibodies. Those modalities could potentiate synergistic effects in augmenting immune activation through combinational therapy. Our leading programs include an immunomodulator for solid tumors (from mSCAFoldTM ) and a dual targeting CAR-T for hematologic malignancies (from mADsTM). Both programs are projected to enter human clinical studies in early 2021.
Leadership Team
Our team includes the well-respected biologics drug discovery & development experts with extensive experience and track records in advancing biotherapeutic candidates into clinical and commercial stage.
Scientific Advisors
Charles Zhao, M.D., MBA, brings more than 20 years of drug development experience in oncology therapeutic area. Before Elpis, Charles served as CMO at ABM Therapeutics and Sr. Medical Director at Mirati Therapeutics. Previously, he was Medical Director at EMD Serono working on cMET inhibitor global program in hepatocellular carcinoma indication; MEK inhibitor early phase development program in multiple indications including pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, melanoma, NSCLC, CRC, TNBC, and CML; and MetAP2 inhibitor early phase development program. He was Associate Medical Director at Boehringer Ingelheim working on PLK1 inhibitor in urothelial carcinoma and AML indication. His career highlights also include his work at Novartis working on HDAC inhibitor in CTCL and PKC inhibitor in AML indication, and Eli Lilly in early phase clinical development.
Diala Ezzeddine, Ph.D. Diala is founder and CEO of Xios Therapeutics (Waltham, MA), a privately held, venture-backed drug discovery company. Xios is developing next generation oncology protein degrading therapeutics with the potential to transform the treatment and lives of cancer patients. From 2010 to 2015, Diala was EVP and Chief Business Officer of X-Chem. She was instrumental in crafting the company’s business strategy, obtaining an equity investment, and establishing multiple revenue generating partnerships with top tier pharmaceutical companies with a cumulative deal value surpassing $2B. In the course of her career, Diala held business development roles of increasing responsibility at several leading biotechnology companies in the Boston area including Millennium Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, now Takeda Pharmaceuticals), and Archemix Corp. (Cambridge, MA). In support of the companies’ corporate strategies, she structured and negotiated value creating partnerships with several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Diala holds a Ph.D. in Genetics from Harvard Medical School obtained in 1997. Before that, she had conducted research in the Neurogenetics department at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA). She is the lead author on a publication describing successful in vivo pre-clinical proof-of-concept for an innovative genetic engineering approach to treating malignant brain tumors.
