Business Wire

EVEXTA-BIO

19.6.2024 17:08:31 CEST | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Evexta Bio appoints Shawn M. Leland as Chairman of the Board of Directors

Evexta Bio SA, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing first-in-class therapies in oncology, announces the appointment of Shawn M. Leland, PharmD, RPh as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Shawn is an accomplished pharmaceutical and biotechnology professional with more than 15 years of experience in the industry. Throughout his career, Shawn has successfully advanced novel oncology assets and programs, raised substantial capital for various ventures, negotiated major global licensing agreements, and established strategic partnerships. His extensive experience in leading biotech startups, raising capital and executing strategic collaborations will be a major benefit to Evexta Bio in its growth and corporate development strategy.

Most recently, Shawn was the Interim CEO and Board Director of ForeBio, where he led the company through a phase 2 study with registrational intent and closed a $75M Series D financing.

In July 2019, Shawn founded Elevation Oncology, where he served as Chief Business Officer and Board Director, and later as CEO until January 2023. During his mandate, the company advanced multiple novel targeted oncology assets. Shawn raised over $200M in capital, which included a $100M IPO. Shawn grew Elevation Oncology from zero to more than 50 employees.

Shawn was Head of Business Development at Verastem Oncology from 2017 – 2019 and Argos Therapeutics from 2013 – 2017 where he played a pivotal role in each company’s corporate development strategy leading multiple partnerships and licensing transactions. Shawn started his career with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, ARIAD Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly. Shawn holds a PharmD from Albany College of Pharmacy.

Alain Chevallier, former Chairman of the board of Directors of Evexta Bio, said: “I'm pleased to be handing over the chairmanship to a great professional of the oncology and biotech field as Shawn, who brings new valuable perspectives to Evexta Bio, and I will continue, as Vice-Chairman, to be fully committed to the success of the Company.”

Scott Filosi, CEO of Evexta Bio added: “I am delighted to welcome Shawn as Chairman of the Board of Directors. His experience and expertise in oncology and strategic development of biotechnology companies are real assets for Evexta Bio. I’m looking forward to working with him to accelerate the mission of Evexta Bio.

Shawn M. Leland, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evexta Bio, said: "I’m looking forward to joining the team of Evexta Bio in such a pivotal moment of its development. Evexta Bio has tremendous potential and I thank the members of the Board of Directors for their trust.”

About Evexta Bio (https://www.evextabio.com)

Evexta Bio is a biopharmaceutical company exploring the new frontiers of oncology in search of daring novel therapeutic approaches with the potential to save lives. Now, in the clinic, the company is currently developing two proprietary therapeutic assets with novel mechanisms of action across several indications:

  • Rupitasertib, an optimized S6K inhibitor with efficient AKT1/AKT3 control of compensatory AKT feed-back loop. The oral anti-tumor agent is expected to enter phase 2 clinical trial in ESR1mt ER+ HER2- advanced breast cancer.
  • EVX020, a sole-in-class KIF20A kinesin inhibitor having shown potent nonclinical efficacy in hematological and solid tumor models. Two strategies are under assessment, development of EVX020 as a prodrug and as a payload for antibody-drug conjugate (ADC).

Founded by Truffle Capital, supported by Merck KGaA (Darmstadt, Germany) as shareholder, Evexta Bio has forged alliances with leaders in academia and industry, including CNRS, Paoli-Calmettes Institute (Marseille, France) and Merck KGaA. The company is supported by seasoned management team, board of directors and medical advisory board.

To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240619024966/en/

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com
DK

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Reply and IEO Launch Collaboration to Co-Develop and Train Domain-Specific Large Language Models for Oncology4.6.2026 10:10:00 CEST | Press release

Reply [EXM, STAR: REY] and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) have launched a collaboration focused on the co-development and training of domain-specific Large Language Models for oncology. The initiative brings together Reply’s expertise in building frontier generative models grounded in enterprise knowledge with the IEO’s clinical expertise and data assets to develop models tailored to highly complex oncology settings. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260604488955/en/ Reply and the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) have launched a collaboration focused on the co-development and training of domain-specific Large Language Models for oncology. As a first step, the IEO’s clinical teams and Information Systems department are working with a multidisciplinary Reply team with deep expertise in healthcare and LLM specialisation to define and prioritise the use cases that will guide development, while also map

UK AI Minister Kanishka Narayan Joins The AI Summit London as 10th Anniversary Agenda Expands Across Enterprise AI, Innovation and Policy4.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release

London Tech Week's flagship AI event will feature 300 speakers, live AI demonstrations, startup pitch competitions, executive training and the National AI Awards The AI Summit London today revealed the full agenda for its highly anticipated 10th anniversary edition, delivering its most expansive and future-focused programme to date. Taking place 10–11 June at Tobacco Dock as the headline AI event of London Tech Week 2026, the Summit expects more than 5,000 attendees, 300 speakers, 100+ sponsors and exhibitors, and a special executive presentation from Kanishka Narayan, Minister for AI and Online Safety, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, across two days dedicated to the commercial realities and transformative potential of artificial intelligence. The 10th anniversary has been designed to move the conversation beyond experimentation and into enterprise-wide execution. New in 2026, the programme introduces The AI Impact Arena, delivering focused briefings and live demos,

Corona Launches 2026 Beach 100 Guide, Invites The World To Explore The Outdoors This Summer4.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release

Ahead of World Oceans Day, the global beach authority returns with a list of new locations, over 300,000 Tripadvisor experiences, and dedicated beach grants as part of its “This is Living” platform Corona, the world’s most valuable beer brand1, today announced the return of its annual global beach guide, the 2026 Corona Beach 100, ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8. The highly anticipated second edition spotlights 100 breathtaking and varied ocean-front destinations around the world while celebrating the natural ecosystems and local communities that help bring them to life. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260604412899/en/ 2026 Corona Beach 100 - Legzira Beach, Morocco Connected to Corona’s “This Is Living” platform, which invites consumers to step outside and live life to the fullest this summer, the 2026 guide features 27 new beaches, hundreds of localized Tripadvisor travel experiences inspired by the world

Lantern Expands Its Platform for Solving the Data Trust Problem with Strategic Acquisition and Key Executive Hires4.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release

Lantern Acquires Freyda to Create the First End-to-End Data Assurance Platform for Private Markets Lantern Limited (“Lantern”), the data assurance platform for private markets, announced today a strategic acquisition, expanded platform capabilities, and key leadership additions to address one of private markets biggest operational challenges: transforming fragmented, disconnected data across multiple sources into trusted, actionable intelligence. Private markets run on data, yet much of that data remains siloed, trapped in PDFs, and processed through highly manual workflows across both fund managers and investors. While GPs have increasingly modernized how they manage and report fund information internally, LPs still spend billions of dollars each year manually extracting, normalizing, and reconciling data from capital notices, quarterly statements, and other fund documents. With the acquisition of Freyda Limited (“Freyda”), one of the leading AI document intelligence platforms for ins

KAYTUS Launches MotusAI Enterprise Token Management Platform4.6.2026 09:02:00 CEST | Press release

KAYTUS, a leading provider of AI infrastructure and liquid cooling solutions, today announced the launch of enterprise-grade token management capabilities within MotusAI, enabling organizations to rapidly build, deploy, and operate secure on-premises AI token platform. This pioneering infrastructure enhancement transforms traditional GPU hardware into a unified, governable, and highly efficient internal token service ecosystem. By enabling rapid private deployment, MotusAI provides enterprises with a cost-competitive foundation for accelerating the scale-up of enterprise-grade AI agents while ensuring strong data privacy. Why Enterprises Must Build a Private Token Management Platform Now? As enterprise AI evolves from isolated model-based tools to interconnected AI agent systems that enable deep workflow automation, tokens are emerging as the fundamental “computing currency” of the modern organization. While standard LLM queries typically involve predictable, one-off inference requests

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye