Myricx Pharma Announces Board and Executive Appointments

Rachael Brake, PhD joins the board as independent non-executive director, bringing significant drug development experience, notably from Takeda, Amgen, Millennium
Co-founder Professor Ed Tate transitions from CSO to Chairman of the SAB, remaining as a board director
Robin Carr, PhD steps up to CSO from his previous position as CDO

Stevenage, UK, April 20 2021 – Myricx Pharma (‘Myricx’), a drug discovery company focused on developing small molecule inhibitors that selectively target the human
N-myristoyltransferases (NMT) in cancer, today announces expansion of its board with the addition of Rachael Brake, PhD as independent non-executive director, alongside R&D leadership role changes: Robin Carr, PhD, previously Chief Development Officer (CDO) is appointed Chief Scientific Officer (CSO); and Co-founder Professor Ed Tate transitions to Chairman of the scientific advisory board (SAB).

Rachael Brake, PhD is a molecular and cellular biologist and a highly experienced drug developer across roles in bio/pharma organisations including Amgen, Millennium and, most recently, Takeda Pharmaceuticals where she currently serves as the Head of US Medical Affairs in Oncology. Full bio HERE.

Welcoming Rachael to the board Roberto Solari, PhD, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder said:

“Rachael brings significant pharmaceutical research and development experience to the Board having a successful career focussed on clinical development translating basic research concepts into effective clinical development strategies. This experience will help steer Myricx as we progress our novel NMT inhibitors towards IND enabling studies.”

Robin Carr, PhD CSO, succeeds co-founder Professor Ed Tate PhD who steps back from his executive role in the company to focus on his academic research at Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute. Professor Tate is the world leader in the biology and chemistry of NMT. It was his discoveries of NMT as a novel and emerging drug target for a wide range of oncology and viral indications that lead to the formation of Myricx in 2019. The company maintains collaborations with Imperial College and The Crick, and Professor Tate continues to contribute his expertise as a scientific advisor and chairman of the SAB. He retains his role on the Myricx board of directors.

With over 30 years of experience in drug discovery, Robin is a widely regarded industry veteran and thought leader in innovative/novel drug discovery gained at Glaxo Wellcome, GSK and Astex Therapeutics. See bio HERE.

Commenting on Robin’s change of leadership role to CSO, Dr Solari said:

“During his career Robin has contributed to numerous discovery programs that have progressed into the clinic, two of which went on to become launched drugs within oncology. In addition to his previous responsibilities, Robin also provides scientific leadership, translating our founding discoveries into promising oncology drug candidates.”

Myricx is a start-up from the UK’s leading biomedical research organisations and is pursuing NMT inhibition in a variety of indications with an initial focus in oncology exploiting novel breakthrough discoveries that identified that inhibition of NMT results in specific cancer cell killing via an unexpected and unique mechanism. Myricx has discovered that its NMT inhibitors are proving to be highly effective in the treatment of MYC-driven cancer models. Until now MYC was considered to be undruggable.

-Ends-

Notes to Editors:

About Myricx Pharma – www.myricxpharma.com

Myricx Pharma Ltd (“Myricx”) is a small molecule drug discovery company engaged in developing novel proprietary inhibitors of human N-myristoyltransferases (NMT), with a primary focus in oncology but also exploring potential applications across other diseases.

Myricx operates from the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst facility, UK, and was founded in 2019 based on discoveries made at Imperial College London and the Francis Crick Institute by its co-founders Prof Ed Tate, Dr Andrew Bell and Dr Roberto Solari. The Company has raised an initial £4.5million in seed investment from Sofinnova Partners and Brandon Capital Partners. Myricx has the rights to key NMT discoveries, and composition-of-matter and use patents of its scientific co-founders through exclusive license agreements with Imperial College London.

About Myristoylation

Myristoylation is a lipid modification to a specific group of target proteins in a cell. It involves the attachment of myristic acid, a 14-carbon fatty acid, to a protein’s N-terminal glycine residue. This process is catalysed by the ubiquitous eukaryotic enzyme, N-myristoyltransferase (NMT), which uses myristoyl-coenzyme A (CoA) as a substrate.

Myristoylation is an irreversible change to proteins and plays a vital role in protein–protein interactions, targeting proteins to cytoplasmic and plasma membranes, and regulating cellular signalling pathways in several biological processes. It is also known to be involved in a range of diseases including cancer, inflammatory conditions, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.

For Further information, please contact:

At the Company

Dr Roberto Solari, CEO, Myricx Pharma, info@myricxbio.com

Media Enquiries

Sue Charles, Charles Consultants, sue.charles59@outlook.com, +44 (0)7986 726585