Exact Therapeutics has announced that it has appointed Dr Rafiq Hasan as CEO.

Rafiq Hasan joins as the GE Healthcare spin-out, formerly known as Phoenix Solutions, reports strong progress in its First in Man ACTivate-trial (NCT04021277), investigating ACT combination with standard of care chemotherapy for the treatment of hepatic metastases secondary to colorectal and pancreatic cancers.

“We are thrilled to attract a world-leading pharma professional and physician of Rafiq’s stature, to propel EXACT to the next level of achievement,” says Sir William Castell, Vice-Chairman of EXACT Therapeutics. “Encouraged by the initial results of our ongoing Phase I trial, we are progressing towards our Phase II. Rafiq joins us at a critical time when we are increasingly focused on the commercial potential for Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT). His in-depth appreciation of clinical development, market access and commercialization will be invaluable in successfully driving forward the ACT platform.”

Senior positions with Bayer and Novartis

Dr Hasan gained his medical degree in London and has pursued a career in the pharma industry globally, including senior positions with Bayer and Novartis. He has a proven track record of leading global cross-functional teams to manage multi-billion dollar global franchises and deliver year on year sales growth. Most recently as SVP and Global Head of Ophthalmology at Bayer, Dr Hasan grew the business of Eylea from launch to over USD 2.5bn in 5 years, including its launch in 5 indications in 3 years.

“There has been tremendous progress in the last 8 years within the field of microbubbles and sonoporation, driven forward by ACT and EXACT Therapeutics. Through its targeted delivery, ACT has the potential to enhance therapeutic efficacy of a multitude of products across numerous therapeutic areas. This is some of the most exciting science I have seen with the potential to have a transformative impact on medicine and patients, and I could not pass up this opportunity to lead EXACT Therapeutics into its next phase. I am impressed with the preclinical data where ACT shows efficacy across a range of drugs and disease models, whilst the clinical development is already underway in London, in partnership with the Royal Marsden Hospital/the Institute of Cancer Research,” says Rafiq Hasan.

Spun out from GE Healthcare

EXACT is a clinical stage Norwegian biotech company spun out of GE Healthcare in 2012, currently developing a technology platform for targeted therapeutic enhancement – Acoustic Cluster Therapy (ACT). ACT is an approach to ultrasound-mediated, targeted drug enhancement – capable of significantly amplifying the clinical utility of a wide range of therapeutic agents across a multitude of indications. Its primary mode of action is modifying vascular permeability, enhancing extravasation and increasing drug distribution and uptake in the targeted tissue. ACT is being evaluated for diseases where current clinical practice treats known, localized pathologies (such as solid tumors, localized bacterial infections) with approved medicinal therapy, and where standard of care is limited by an inability to deliver sufficiently high concentrations of drug to the target tissue.