Hox Therapeutics Ltd.. (11/13/18). "Press Release: Hox Therapeutics Appoints Karl Keegan as Chief Executive Officer". Guildford, Surrey.
HOX Therapeutics, the private biotechnology company developing first-in-class, highly targeted cancer therapies based on HOX genes, announces the appointment of Dr Karl Keegan as Chief Executive Officer.
The HOX genes offer a novel therapeutic target with potential applicability across many cancer types. The Company’s scientific approach is based on the over expression and unique role of developmental HOX genes in tumour biology and pathogenesis. HOX Therapeutics has developed proprietary technology that disrupts specific or targeted HOX to co-factor binding making the previously intractable HOX biology druggable.
Dr Karl Keegan has over 25 years’ experience in the biotech/pharma sector. Following his MPhil/PhD degrees at Cambridge, he did postdoctoral work at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas before moving to industry. He worked in research and strategic product development at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals before moving to the City as a top ranked investment analyst. From 2009, he has held key executive positions including CFO/corporate development roles at Pharming Group NV, Vectura Group Plc and Shield Therapeutics Plc. He has significant experience in financing companies, business development and corporate M&A.
HOX Therapeutics was founded by world leading experts in HOX gene family biology and clinical oncology, Professor Hardev Pandha, Head of Oncology, University of Surrey and Professor Richard Morgan, Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, Bradford, UK. The role of HOX genes in early embryogenesis has been characterised over at least a hundred years but has hitherto been undruggable. Academic and industry interest in HOX as wholly new class of cancer therapies is now rising rapidly.
Brain tumours are one of the rarest cancers and account for 3% of the overall cancer occurrences in the UK. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and malignant sub-type of brain tumour. There are few clinically meaningful treatment options for patients with these aggressive cancers. The Glioma market in the US, EU5 and Japan is c. $700m today with growth to > $3bn by 2024 (source, GlobalData).