Biomunex appoints Dr. Simon Plyte, as Chief Scientific Officer

FRANCE – Privately-held French biotech focused on providing immuno-therapeutics Biomunex Pharmaceuticals has announced the appointment of Dr Simon Plyte as chief scientific officer (CSO) and as a member of its scientific advisory board.

Dr. Plyte brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in research and development (R&D) at the senior management level in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, spanning over two decades.

He has a track record of success in drug discovery and development, having brought both New Chemical Entities and New Biological Entities to the clinic in oncology.

Prior to joining Biomunex, he was Vice President of Immuno-Oncology at Merus (Utrecht, Netherlands), Senior Director of Immuno-Oncology at Molecular Partners AG (Zurich, Switzerland), and Director of Immuno-Oncology and New Biological Entities at Boehringer Ingelheim (Biberach, Germany).

This appointment will strengthen and have a significant impact on Biomunex’s R&D strategy, which is to use Biomunex’s best-in-class bi-specific antibody platform, BiXAb, in the redirection of its unique non-conventional T cell subset for cancer treatment, and to advance the antibody platform to tri-specificity and beyond.

“Biomunex’s unique proprietary BiXAb technology platform has best-in-class potential for the rapid creation of bi- and multi-specific antibodies from any pair of monoclonal antibodies with no extensive engineering and with excellent manufacturability,” said Dr. Simon Plyte.

Simon Plyte will assist in the advancement of Biomunex drug candidates through preclinical and early clinical development.

His invaluable R&D experience and strong managerial skills will help Biomunex achieve even more in our current fundraising efforts.

The appointment of Dr. Plyte is part of Biomunex’s strategy to expand its internal scientific knowledge base.

In November 2021, Biomunex was one of the national laureates of the ‘New biotherapies and bioproduction tools’ scheme for a project focused on its non-conventional T Cell redirection approach, which received close to €3 million (US$3.5 million) in grants from the French government.

Biomunex has recently established new laboratories in Paris, as well as a scientific advisory board focused on non-conventional T Cell redirection.

The members of the Board include Dr. Sebastian Amigorena (Institut Curie’s Cancer Immunotherapy Center, INSERM U932, Institut Curie), and Dr. Olivier Lantz (Institut Curie’s Clinical Immunology Laboratory, INSERM U932, Institut Curie).

Other members of the Board include Dr. Matthias Peipp are among those who have joined the group (Head of Division of Antibody-Based Immunotherapy, University of Kiel).

Simon Plyte has a PhD in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of Portsmouth, UK, and a co-author of more than 30 publications and patents.

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